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Purgatorio: cantos 23-33

Finished up my translation of Purgatorio

Canto XXIII  The sixth level: gluttony cont.  The canto starts with Dante still pondering the tree. Finally, Virgil tells him to get a move on, and so Dante turns and they all head down the road. They soon hear a group of penitents weeping and singing. The penitents, deeply emaciated, pass Dante and Virgil quickly and silently, but one cries out and Dante, not recognizing him at first for his disfigured face, recognizes the voice as that of his friend and fellow poet, Forese Donati. Forese wants to know who is accompanying Dante, but Dante is so taken with Forese's emaciated figure, that he wants to know what happened to him. Forese explains that a heavenly power runs through the water which causes them to hunger and thirst. This level punishes gluttony and their former sin is purged through this hunger. They must accept the punishment and submit their wills now to reject the appetite of the body.  

Dante wonders how Forese, who had died less than five years ago, managed to get so far up the mountain if he had waited until the last moments of his life to repent. 

Forese answers that it was the prayers of his faithful and devout wife Nella. When he left her, she alone was left to do her good works, for the women of Florence are an evil lot. Then Forese prophecies that very soon, such promiscuous dress will be forbidden from the pulpit.  However, having updated Dante, Forese now has his own burning questions that he wants answers to. The first is that everyone there notices Dante is casting a shadow, meaning he isn't a shade like the others there. Dante relates how only a few days ago he was still lost and adrift in life, when he was rescued by Virgil and led through hell, then up the mountain of purgatory. He doesn't name Statius, but pronounces that it is because of him that the recent quake occurred. 

The canto ends here. 

Canto XXIV  The sixth level: gluttony cont.  The canto continues with Dante locked into conversation with Forese. Dante asks about Piccarda, Forese's sister, and is told she is already in heaven. Dante asks if there are any other notable souls there among those looking at him, and Forese mentions several, none of whom we would know of today. But the first he mentions, Bonagiunta da Lucca, continues to stare at Dante and mutters "Gentucca", and Dante engages him in conversation. We don't know who 'Gentucca' is (still to this day), but Dante is told that she will cause him to love Lucca, even while others berate it. Presumably, this pertains to some welcome Dante received while exiled from Florence.  

Bonagiunta then asks if he isn't Dante, the famed poet of the "new style", who wrote "Women who have an understanding of love"? Dante says he is, and explains that "when love inspires me, I note it and go on expressing what the voice inside me said".  Dante is essentially explaining that his 'style' is based on the notion that Love dictates what to say, and he faithfully transcribes it, dispensing with earthly intermediaries. Bonagiunta then mentions that he, along with two other poets whose names we would no longer know, had fallen short of such a thing, and now he can understand why. Then Bonagiunta adds that apart from this attitude of the poet, there is no difference. At this point, Bonagiunta and the others continue rapidly on their journey.  

Forese stands off and lets them pass, so he can stick with Dante a bit longer, asking when Dante will be back again? Dante says he doesn't know how much life he has left, but regardless, he would rather be back here to continue on up.  

Forese then breaks from this by telling Dante to go, and that his brother Corso, the one Forese holds most responsible for the troubles in Florence, is about to be dragged to hell while being ignominiously killed. Then he says he must move on since staying with Dante step for step is slowing him down too much.  

At this point, Dante, Virgil, and Statius come upon another tree like the one in the previous canto. They see a bunch of people trying to get at the fruit, like willful children, but then they seem to wise up and understand it is pointless, and accept their lot. As our travelers move by the tree, an unknown voice cries out against the Centaurs that fought against Theseus as well as the Hebrews who were left because they were soft in the way they drank, and so were left behind when Gideon went in to battle against the Midianites. 

They move on for more than a thousand steps when a voice catches them unaware, leading them to the path upward to the next level.  

Canto XXV  The seventh level: lust  The canto starts off around 2 in the afternoon with Dante, Virgil, and Statius climbing up to the seventh level. The passage is narrow so they must climb up single file. Dante wants to ask a question, but holds back until Virgil basically says: out with it. Dante then asks how those in the last level could suffer and grow so thin if they had no need of food?  

Virgil gives two examples: Meleager, was by the will of the Fates, only to live as long as a log thrown into the fire. But his mother took the log out of fire before it burned up. However, when he killed her brothers in a fight, she threw the log back in when it burned up, he died. The second is of a man's reflection in a mirror, so that though you can see it as solid, it isn't. The point is that life and death aren't a matter of merely feeding the body, but external causes; and the external cause may not even be material. 

Then Virgil calls on Statius to explain the matter. Statius courteously defers to Virgil, but submits to his request in humility and gives this explanation.  

First we get a sort of sterile sex talk, where Statius explains how female eggs get fertilized through the sperm, but the important point is that the sperm and egg have formative power in their blood. 

Once together, they form the embryo, it continues to grow and at this point there isn't much difference between animal and human souls.  

The second part of the explanation moves to more theological ground, explaining that humans get their immortal soul, with its human reason and intelligence, from God breathing on it to give it this. 

Statius uses two examples to illustrate the point: the first is grape juice and sunlight makes wine. This is meant to show that an earthly element (the juice), and a celestial element (the sunlight) make another element- the wine; the second is from Greek mythology, where the Fate Lachesis cuts the thread of life and the body and soul separate. 

While the faculties of most of the body parts are done, the faculties of the soul: the intellect, will, and memories, are not only functional, but are heightened, no longer obscured by the body.  

The theological portion continues with some pure invention by Dante, who needed to explain how 'shades' could suffer physical effects. He describes that at death, the soul knows where it needs to go- either hell or purgatory, and while on the respective shores, the soul uses the same formative power that created the original body, to sort of make a new spiritual one- a shade- that has sensations.  

This is what allows the bodies to suffer the effects of the various levels. 

At this point the three travelers arrive at the last level and are immediately confronted with a serious concern: fire shooting out from the walls of the mountain. This is mitigated by a breeze blowing up from below and deflecting the flames away at the edge, but it means they must tread very carefully near the edge, worried about the flames to the interior, and falling over the edge of the cliff to the outside. 

They hear penitents on this level going through the fire, singing hymns, and then shouting prayerful sayings of those that resisted the sins of lust. This alternating between praise and prayer is the cure for healing up this sin. 

Canto XXVI  The seventh level: lust cont.  The canto continues with Dante, Virgil and Statius moving along the edge carefully in single file. They are now later in the afternoon, and Dante's shadow gives the shades that see him the impetus to speak and ask how it is that he doesn't seem to have a shade body. They draw closer to him, though carefully not to leave the fire where they are being burned, and one asks Dante to explain how he can be there and have a body that would seem to mean he is still alive. Dante starts to explain but his attention is drawn to a group of penitents coming along. They greet, with a very brief kiss on the cheeks, the ones that are traveling along Dante's way. They don't even stop, but continue on, however as soon as they are passed, the group traveling the other way screams "Sodom and Gomorrah", while the group traveling Dante's way screams "Pasiphae enters the cow so the bull may run to her lust". This last phrase refers to Pasiphae, wife of Minos, who was in love with a bull. So she had Daedelus construct a wooden cow, which she would enter into, and receive the bull's sexual intercourse in her.  

Dante then mentions a group of Cranes in flight, who divide into two groups one flying to the south, the other to the frigid north. Cranes would not do this, but it symbolizes doing what is completely against their nature. 

Then the same ones that asked Dante before to explain himself, ask him again, so Dante explains that he is indeed still alive, and that one above (Beatrice) obtained grace for him to travel through these realms so he would no longer walk blind. Then Dante asks the crowd to tell him who they are, and who the other group were. At first they remain stupified, like a wild and coarse mountaineer who arrives in the city is left speechless and dumbstruck, but then one answers that the group that passed were those that committed the same sin Julius Caesar was accused of when they called him 'Queen'- homosexuality; while they themselves were heterosexual, but didn't submit to human standards, but followed their lust about like beasts. So in rebuke of each group, the homosexuals call out Sodom, while the heterosexuals call out Pasiphae. But they have no more time to tell who they are except the speaker, who identifies himself as the poet Guido Guinizelli, and claims that he is here so quickly after his death because he repented of his sins earlier.  

Dante, uses the example of the sons of Lycurgus, who leapt to the defense of their mother, as what he wanted to do himself in greeting Guinizzelli, but the fire of course prevents him. So he just stops and stares at the shade for a while until Dante promises to serve Guinizzelli in whatever way possible. 

Guinizzelli asks what this is about, and Dante explains that his poetry has inspired many, including himself. Guinizzelli dismisses this with an indication that there is another close by that is a far better craftsman of his mother tongue: Arnaut Daniel, the Provençal poet. While many thing that Giraut de Bornelh was better, it was merely because he was more famous, and most people's opinions just follow the crowd. In the previous generation, this was done with Guittone d'Arezzo, but eventually the truth won out.  

Guinizzelli asks Dant to say an 'Our Father' for him if he gets to Paradise, except the last part of the prayer won't be necessary (lead us not into temptation) since he can no longer sin in purgatory. Then he disappears and Arnaut draws near. Dante asks him to tell his name, and Arnaut responds in Provençal, then hides himself in the fire. Here the canto ends. 

Canto XXVII  The ascent to the mountain top  The canto starts at the end of the day with Virgil, Dante and Statius needing to pass through a fire before they can move up to the next level. Dante, having seen people burned at the stake, isn't about to go in. But Virgil promises that while he may be tormented, he will not die, nor suffer any damage. Virgil reminds Dante that he led him safely down on Geryon in hell, how much more would be careful of Dante here so close to God! Dante still isn't having any of it, so Virgil tries to convince him to test it with the edge of his robes, but Dante remains where he is. Finally, Virgil invokes Beatrice by telling Dante that she is on the other side. That gets Dante's attention and he is ready to commit. Virgil goes first, then tells Statius to follow Dante. Dante describes the feeling inside as wanting to throw himself into boiling glass in order to refresh himself. Virgil keeps up some encouraging pitter-patter by saying he believes he can see Beatrice's eyes. A voice guides them through the flames and they come out the other side. The sun is going down so they are encouraged to get moving up the steps, but sundown comes while they are climbing. Since they can't, nor do they want to, move while its dark, they hunker down, each on a step. Dante looks up and can barely see the sky, being enclosed by high walls, but notes the stars are particularly clear, and numerous. At that he falls into sleep. He imagines it towards early morning, but he has a dream of Leah and Rachel, the wives of Jacob in the Bible. Leah is collecting flowers and represents the active life of works. She says she wants to adorn herself so she can be pleased with herself in the mirror. The mirror is symbolic of her conscience. Rachel, symbolic of the contemplative life, never leaves considering herself in front of the mirror.  

But then morning comes and Dante wakes up. Virgil and Statius are already up and Virgil tells Dante that today will be the day when his happiness will be satisfied. At this they all launch up the steps until they arrive at the top. Virgil then tells Dante that they've come to the point where Virgil can no longer lead. Virgil took Dante as far as he could go through intellect and skill, but now, with Dante's will being cleansed and set right, Dante must let his pleasure guide him, since his pleasure now will be to seek the good and true. He tells Dante that he can either sit, or wander around. Only Dante must no longer wait for instructions or signals from Virgil, because his will is free, straightened and healthy, and so it would be a sin not to follow it. Virgil proclaims that Dante is ruler of himself. 

Here the canto ends. 

Canto XXVIII  Earthly paradise  Dante decides to have a look around inside the divine forest. He feels a light breeze striking his forehead, and notices a low droning sound coming from the movement of the leaves in the trees. He then comes across a small stream, of exceptionally clear, yet dark, water. His progress halted by the stream, he looks across to the other side and notices a beautiful young woman singing and picking flowers. He greets her with a line I love: "Deh, bella donna, che a' raggi d'amore ti scaldi...". Hello, beautiful girl, who warms herself in rays of love. He then asks her to come forward so that he might understand what she is singing. This woman, whose name we learn only in the latter part of the last canto of purgatorio, is Matelda, and she is figurative of the innocence lost to man when he sinned. Her name is from a poem, In un boschetto trovai pastorella (I met a shepherdess in the woods), of Dante's friend and fellow poet, Guido Cavalcanti. Several of Dante's descriptions match up with Cavalcanti's poem. In Dante's greeting, he tells Matelda that she makes him recall Proserpina. Proserpina was a young maiden who was happily and innocently collecting flowers in the forest, which state Dante references here. But symbolically, the story of Proserpina is that she was taken and ravished by Pluto, god of the underworld, the reference is to man's innocence and happiness in the garden that would be lost to sin. 

But back to the story. Matelda draws near and Dante is utterly smitten by her beauty. He believes that even the goddess Venus, in love with Adonis when struck accidentally by one of Cupid's arrows, would not have shown more love in her eyes than he saw in the eyes of Matelda as she looked up at him. Dante notes that while he was separated the distance of only three steps by the river, he probably hated that short distance more than Leandro hated the Hellespont, which he swam across nightly to be with Hero, the priestess he was in love with. 

Matelda smiles at them (Virgil and Statius were there too) and says she can see they are new here, but for Dante to go ahead and ask whatever he wants. Dante doesn't hesitate, but asks about the weather. He notes that the presence of a river, and the wind, doesn't seem to correlate with what he had been told by Statius earlier- meteorological events didn't occur above the gates to Purgatory proper.  

Matelda answers that God indeed made this place for man to dwell, but that didn't last too long because of human sin. The winds below on the earth occur because water evaporates and rises up. It doesn't, in fact, rise up to this height because it is barred by God from doing so, but... all the atmosphere moves in a circuit because of the outer sphere. The outer sphere is an object from medieval cosmology, where it was believed that there were a series of concentric spheres. When God started the first one moving, that caused the atmosphere to move too, and it is only this movement of the air that Dante has experienced. Matelda drops a little more knowledge than he had asked for by explaining that the breeze hits the trees here, which in turn, scatter their seeds all over the earth, which would explain how trees that apparently had no origin locally could come into being.  

The waters Dante sees aren't due to the normal meteorological events of evaporation into clouds, rain, water collecting in rivers which gradually get bigger until they flatten out close to the sea; no, these streams spring up by the will of God and pour out in two directions. The stream Dante sees currently is the Lethe, which has the power to remove every memory of sin, and the other is the Eunoe, which restores the memory of every good deed. The waters of the Eunoe won't work unless one first bathes in the Lethe, but the waters of the Eunoe are the sweetest of all waters.  

Then Matelda drops one more unasked-for tidbit of knowledge: the poets of old spoke of a golden age, an idyllic time of peace and harmony with nature and the gods. It was a veiled allusion to this paradise that they were inspired to speak of. 

At this, Dante turns to check what the poets thought of this, sees their smiles, and then turns back to Matelda, and here the canto ends. 

Canto XXIX  Earthly paradise cont.  The canto begins with Matelda adding "Blessed are those whose sins are covered" to the end of her speech. At this point she moves along the edge of the river, and Dante matches her pace on the other side. She then points out that a procession is coming. Suddenly, the woods light up and an air of righteous zeal strikes Dante so that he rebukes the audacity of Eve in disobeying the commands of God, which result in everyone, himself included, not being able to enjoy such delights. 

As the procession comes into view, Dante implores the Muses to pour out on him every gift of inspiration on him so that he can accurately depict the things he saw, which are hard to even imagine, much less put into verse. 

He first sees seven golden candelabras, which he mistakes for trees from a distance, but recognizes as they get closer. These represent the seven-fold spirit of God that the book of Revelation speaks of. Their luminance shines brightly in the sky and Dante turns to Virgil, who is nonetheless stupified. Matelda then reprimands Dante for spending too much time noting the candelabras, and not noticing what comes afterward. A group of people dressed in the brightest white are approaching behind the seven candelabras. Dante notes that from each candelabra, there is a flame, which leaves behind it a colored streak of light that remains. These form the colors of the rainbow, and remain looking like ribbons over the procession. The first group of people, dressed in white, are the 24 elders described in Revelation, and they represent the Hebrew Bible divided into 24 books. They are crowned with a garland of white lilies, the color symbolizing faith. These sing a blessing to Mary, who gave birth to the Redeemer.  

Then come the four living creatures described in Revelation, each crowned with green, the color symbolizing hope, which the four gospels carried to the world. They each have six wings, filled with eyes. Dante says he won't spare time describing them, the reader can check out the prophecy of Ezekiel too. 

Between the four living creatures is a chariot, symbolizing the Church, which is pulled by a Griffin, symbolizing Christ. The Griffin is a creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. These represent the two natures of Christ- divine and human. The head and wings are gold (the divine) while the body is white, mixed with red, symbolizing faith mixed with the blood of Jesus. 

Three women dance to the right of the chariot. These represent the theological virtues. The red woman is love, the highest of the three virtues; the green woman is hope, and the pure white woman is faith. Sometimes faith leads the dance, and sometimes love leads the dance, but love always sets the timing of the dance. 

On the left, four women dressed in purple represent the infused cardinal virtues: prudence, temperance, justice and fortitude. These wear the purple clothes, whereas the other three women are their colors through and through. Prudence is described as having three eyes: symbolizing that she sees past, present, and future. 

Then come two men paired together. The first is a physician, representing Luke, the writer of Acts, and the second is Paul, carrying a sharp sword, signifying the word of God. 

After them come four more dressed humbly, symbolizing the smaller epistles of James, Peter, John, and Jude. 

Finally a sleeping man with an anguished face comes, symbolizing the old apostle John while in a trance receiving Revelation. 

The seven behind the four living creatures had bright red flowered garlands, symbolizing love. 

The procession stops when the chariot is opposite Dante and here the canto ends. 

Canto XXX  Earthly paradise cont.  The procession comes to a stop and one of the elders calls out for 'the bride to come forth'. A veiled woman comes to the edge of the chariot, and while Dante can't see her face for the veil, his spirit is overcome and he feels the same kind of power coming over him that he did in Beatrice's presence. Then when he finally sees her, he turns to tell Virgil that every drop of blood in his veins is trembling, but notices that Virgil has left them. At this moment, despite the glory of paradise, Dante is overwhelmed with sadness. The lady tells him not to weep right now, for there is another sword that will make him cry, by which she means, she has some words of rebuke that will bring him to tears.  

Beatrice greets Dante clearly but asks how he could have thought he was worthy to come here. Dante looks away in shame, because he, like all of us, can't consider ourselves worthy to come to salvation apart from the grace of God. In this case, even the glimpse into this place came because Beatrice had intervened to bring Dante here. 

At this the surrounding angels sing "in You, Lord, I trusted" as a reminder to Beatrice that everyone has to come to this place through grace and faith. Then Dante, grasping that the angels are interceding for him, breaks down in tears and sobbing. 

But Beatrice addresses the angels by noting that while they live in an eternal day outside of time, Dante is caught up in time and moments are precious. She wants Dante to have a repentance equal to his sin. The celestial spheres turn and produce life in its turn, but divine grace also rains down from such a place and height that humans can't discern how or what it is up to. Dante himself was blessed with such gifts that had he cultivated righteous habits, he would have been a proof of divine righteousness. But when a field is given such natural gifts, and yet has bad seed and remains uncultivated, it produces wildly and malignantly at the level it could have produced good.  

Beatrice notes that while she was with him, she knew he was attracted to her, so she tried to guide him along a good path. But as soon as she died, Dante gave himself to another woman. Even as Beatrice was becoming more beautiful and virtuous, she was therefore less pleasing to him. He turned off the true path and sought fulfillment in gods that never produce what they promise.  

She tried importuning God for inspiration, and she would call to him in dreams and other ways, but Dante would not respond. He'd fallen so low that the only thing that would reach him was to show him Hell. So she went to Virgil in limbo and asked Virgil to bring Dante through Hell, and up through purgatory. Now, though the angels would want her to back off a bit, she argues that the decrees of God would be broken if Dante were allowed to enter the Lethe, and taste of its food, which is the forgetting of past sins, without serious tears being shed as a payment for his backsliding. 

The canto ends with this.  

Canto XXXI  Earthly paradise cont.  The last canto finished with Beatrice explaining to the angels why she was being harsh with Dante. This one starts with her now turning her attention directly to Dante, where she continues ripping him a new one... in love... always in love.  After having declared Dante's sin to the angels who had attempted to mitigate her harshness, she demands Dante declare himself if these things are true, and add his confession to the accusation. He can't even speak in her presence, which she waits for a moment, before telling him that he has not yet lost his memory of sin, so answer her! Dante breaks down in sobs at this point and confesses that it is all true. She continues questioning him by noting that if her desires had lifted him to the highest good, what would have expected to find elsewhere? What would cause him to break from that and turn to lesser things. Dante again confesses that he was turned by false pleasures as soon as she was away. 

She adds that it is good to have confessed it since God knows It all anyway, but when confessed willingly, it lessens the consequences in the eyes of God. But she adds that next time he hears the Siren, be stronger. Plant the seed of weeping and listen to what she says, because she's going to explain why her death should have moved him in the correct direction, not where he went.  

Nothing was ever so beautiful to Dante as Beatrice. So what else could bring him fulfillment? After the first disappointment chasing after sin, he should have reverted immediately back to following what she was following, rather than waiting for a second or third disappointment, some other girl, or any other novelty that brought momentary joy.  

Baby birds learn to avoid the snares after 2-3 mishaps. Adult birds never fall for the traps. Dante is listening to her ashamed when she says if this pains you, raise your beard (meaning he is by now olde enough, and should be wise enough not to fall for such nonsense) and it'll be more painful seeing.  

At this, Dante lifts his face and sees the angels are resting, but Beatrice turned towards the Griffin, which symbolizes Jesus. Dante notes that even across the river, her beauty has surpassed even her unmatched beauty from earth. Dante is so stung to repentance that he says all those desires that had perverted him as the most hateful things now. This is so strong on him that he loses consciousness. What happened there, Dante says only Beatrice, the cause of it, would know. 

But he comes to with Matelda standing over him. She tells him to hold tight to her and she leads him into the waters of the Lethe river up to his neck. Then she embraces him and holds him down until he has swallowed the waters. When she pulls him back up, he is led among the four dancing woman that were at the left of the chariot in the procession. These women represented the four cardinal virtues: fortitude, temperance, justice and prudence. They promise to lead Dante to Beatrice's eyes, but the other three women will have to sharpen his sight so that he can be in heaven, otherwise the light would be too much for him there. 

They lead Dante to Beatrice who is gazing intently at the Griffin. Dante sees the dual nature, both divine and human, reflected in Beatrice's eyes, and gains understanding as the natures alternately reveal themselves to him. He gets this wisdom, but is thirsty for more, when the three women representing the theological virtues come up and tell Beatrice to unveil her mouth, the second beauty to Dante. 

Dante again notes that such heavenly splendor is difficult to express in words. And the canto ends here. 

Canto XXXII  Earthly paradise cont.  The canto begins with Dante intently staring at Beatrice in an attempt, he tells us, to make up for ten years lost time. One of the women representing the virtues mentions that he is staring, and that breaks him away. The last canto detailed a procession that symbolized the progressive revelation of God in the Bible. This canto will symbolically show the history of the church through time.  

As Dante turns back to what's happening around him, he sees the procession wheel around and head back where it came from. Matelda, Statius, and Dante are watching all this, and following along with the chariot as some angels pound out a song that their steps march to. Dante notes that they had gone about three times the distance of an arrow shot, when Beatrice descends from the chariot. There is a murmur of the word Adam, and they stop and encircle a dead tree. It has the same shape as the trees on the level of gluttony: an inverted cone that spreads out more as the height increases. This is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Those around laud the Griffin (Jesus) that he never sinned by taking from this tree like Adam did, and in so doing, preserved the seed of righteousness: meaning he maintained that perfect righteousness that allowed him to take the sin of the world on his shoulders, and so provide righteousness for all that would believe in him afterward. 

He takes the pole of the chariot, which is the shaft that connects the body of the chariot to the horses that would pull it, and ties it to the tree as a stake. The pole symbolizes the cross. Very quickly then, the tree begins to have life again. Dante then falls asleep, which may symbolize the peace and happiness after reconciliation with God. When is called to wake up, he sees Matelda, but immediately asks where Beatrice is. She is close by sitting on the roots of the revived tree. The griffin has returned with the rest of the company, symbolizing that the church has been left on the earth while Jesus has returned back to heaven. The seven nymphs representing the virtues have remained with her however. 

Then there is a picture of seven calamities that have befallen the church through its history. 

The first is the persecution of the Roman empire; depicted as an eagle that tears through the tree and strips it, and smashes into the chariot, rocking it back and forth. 

The second calamity is a ravenous she-fox, representing heresy, that jumps into the very cradle of the chariot, until it is chased out by Beatrice, depicted as emaciated and stripped of meat. 

The third calamity is what's known as the donation of Constantine. After converting to Christianity, Constantine gave lands to the church. The canto portrays this as the same eagle as before (Rome) coming down to the chariot and leaving her feathers all over. We hear a voice of regret from the heavens saying: "My little ship, how badly you are loaded".  

The fourth calamity is a hole opening up between the chariot wheels and a dragon coming up, fixing it's barbed tail on the bottom of the chariot, and ripping it off. This may represent the great schism, but likely represents the rise of Islam. 

The fifth calamity is that the feathers that remained in the chariot body grew like weeds, covered itself, then covered everything else. This represents the growth of the church's worldly possessions. Even if this was done with good intentions, it was corrosive all the same. 

The sixth calamity shows three heads sprouting from the pole, and another four heads, one in each corner of the chariot. The three on the pole each have two horns like oxen, the other four have only one- ten total. This picture is taken from Revelation, but the intended interpretation is unclear. The seven heads together are said to be a beast unlike any seen before. 

The seventh is that of a loosely dressed harlot sitting on top the beast. There is a giant watching over the harlot, the giant supposedly representing Philip the Fair, or maybe more broadly, the intrusion of the French monarchy into Papal affairs. The harlot and the giant occasionally kiss, but at one point, the harlot eyes Dante, and the giant, in a rage, beats the harlot, cuts the monster loose, and takes the harlot so deeply into the woods they can't be seen anymore. This seventh picture is also obviously drawn from Revelation, but beyond the fact that the church has now been completely corrupted and distorted beyond all recognition, it's hard to know what other interpretations might be intended. 

Here the canto ends. 

Canto XXXIII  Earthly paradise  The seven maidens sing and weep with the opening lines of Psalm 79: "Oh God, the nations have invaded your inheritance" , in response to the vision seen in the prior canto. Beatrice herself is extremely saddened but then stands up and repeats the words of Jesus at the last supper: I'll disappear, and then you'll see me again. At this point she stands up and sends the maidens off, and signals that Dante, Statius, and Matelda will all now follow her and the seven maidens as they travel. While they travel, Beatrice calls Dante up to make sure he can understand anything she wants to communicate. She asks Dante why he doesn't have any questions, and he responds that she already knows what he needs, and therefore, anything she'd like to address to him will undoubtedly be exactly what he needs.  

She lets him know that he should put away all bashfulness and speak out. She then begins to explain the vision he saw and says that the chariot (the church) that the serpent broke was, and is no more. By which she means that the institution of the Roman catholic leadership is now so corrupted that it no longer functions as the body of Christ. But those guilty, the Popes and the Kings of France, should know that God's vengeance fears nothing. For the Holy Roman Empire that was meant to rule over Italy and the church therein, while it had become first a monster, then prey, it would not be like this forever. 

Dante give a number: 515 that we are told signifies one sent by God who will kill the thief, the whore (the Popes) that sat on the beast (The Papacy of the Roman church) and commits crimes with the giant (the French throne). 

While this prophecy may be obscure to Dante now, Beatrice notes that the facts themselves will soon reveal the enigma and solve the problem without damage to the flock or fields- presumably referring to the wider church flock, and the various places where the church had its dominion. So the corrupt leadership would be dealt with, but the lay church would be left intact. The reference of who the 515 means is unknown, but since the prophecy didn't come true, we won't worry about who Dante might have been referring to. 

Beatrice tells Dante to relate these events as he has seen and heard them, and to particularly relate the stripping of the tree, so that whoever has robbed or committed violence against the Tree, will understand that he has blasphemed against God himself through his deeds, even if not in words. 

Adam himself was the first to commit a crime against the tree, and he had waited over 5000 years to see Christ atone for sin- having waited in Limbo until Jesus descended into Hell and led captivity captive up from the grave. Beatrice says Dante's own genius would be asleep if he can't see the cause of the shape of the tree- thin at the bottom and large at the top. The shape represents the barrenness brought by sin down low, and the restoration of life by the redemption of Christ as it goes higher. 

But because Dante's mind has been crusted over and stained, he doesn't get the justice of God in it. 

She tells him to faithfully recount the words, at least the gist of them, so that people would understand where he has been, as a pilgrim to the holy land wraps his staff with palms as evidence he's been there. 

Dante promises to faithfully recount all he has heard, but wonders why he has such a difficulty understanding? Beatrice notes that he has filled his mind with human philosophy, but that it can't compare with divine wisdom which is as far from him as the highest heaven is from earth. 

Dante responds that he doesn't remember any divergence in his philosophy from hers. She notes that he doesn't remember it because he drank from the Lethe, which is clear evidence that his leaving her was sinful, but now his will is inclined to the good. 

It's midday now and they come to an opening in the woods where Dante sees the source of the Tigris and Euphrates bubbling up. Dante asks what this is that is so far from the rivers themselves, and Beatrice tells Matelda to explain it to him. Matelda lets Beatrice know that she has already explained it to him, at which point Beatrice notes that he probably forgot it in all the other events. Beatrice herself explains it’s the Eunoe, the river that restores memory of all the good deeds, and has Matelda lead him to it. Dante drinks and, having been renewed, is now ready to ascend to Paradise. 

[thetldrplace]

Purgatorio: cantos 12 - 22

Continuing through the Purgatorio with this second of three installements, this one covering cantos 12 to 22.

Canto XII  The first level: pride cont.  The opening of the canto finds Dante still walking along Oderisi as if yoked to him like oxen. But Virgil tells him he has passed enough time there, and now they must apply themselves and use whatever means possible to move on. While they proceed, Virgil tells Dante to look down, for they are beginning to pass over some engravings in the road that portray various scenes of pride. The first is Satan being cast down. The second is Briareus the Titan, laying slain after attempting to storm Olympus. Third is Apollo, Pallas, and Mars with Zeus, standing and looking over the slain Titans. Fourth is Nimrod dumbfounded by the results of his Tower of Babel. Fifth is Niobe, whose children were killed for her blasphemies against the gods. Sixth is Saul, dead from suicide rather than allowing himself to be killed by his enemies. Seventh is Arachne in misery after having challenged Athena to a weaving contest. Eighth is Rehoboam, whose pride severed Israel in two, and who, while attempting to assert control, was driven out.  Ninth is Alcmaeon, who avenged his father by killing his mother, who betrayed her husband for a necklace. Tenth is Sennacherib, who taunted God most high and was then killed by his sons in the temple of his false god, after having suffered a humiliating defeat by the angel of the Lord. Eleventh is Tomyrus revenge on Cyrus for having arrogantly killed her son. Twelfth is Holofernes, the Assyrian envoy who presumed to banish the worship of Jehovah in Israel, decapitated and routed in battle. Thirteenth is Troy, defeated and palaces gutted, brought low for its pride. 

Dante notes the sublime skill of workmanship that made him feel as if he had seen the events just as well as those who lived through them. Then he laments the pride of men, who walk through life without every really looking at what they are doing, symbolically displayed in his passage over these historical instances of pride judged.  

An angel approaches the two travelers and Dante again uses a metaphoric description to tell the time- roughly noon. The angel invites them forward, then touches Dante's forehead with his wing and ushers him forward to a stairway cut into the rock. Dante likens it to the ascent up to the San Miniato al Monte church in Florence, but also notices that the ascent is more relaxed than the last one. He asks Virgil why this is, and is told that the six remaining P's have faded, but when they too are gone, like the first one is, Dante will not only not be tired, but he'll actually be delighted to move upward. The first P, pride, is the basis of all the other sins, so with that removed, all the others have faded somewhat, hence they move much more lightly up the mountain.  

Canto XIII  The second level: envy  Having ascended the staircase, Virgil and Dante find themselves on the second ledge, but there is no one there. Virgil decides to continue moving counter-clockwise rather than wait for someone to direct them, and after about a mile in, they hear voices coming from overhead, as if angels are flying over, and announcing things. The three phrases they hear are: 1) They have no wine; 2) I am Orestes; and 3) Love your enemies. Virgil explains that this level purges envy, and the cure for envy is love, so these phrases are repeated. The first is from Mary's declaration to Jesus at the wedding of Cana, and symbolizes her seeking help for the welfare of others. The second is from Greek mythology when Orestes, having killed his mother and her lover for their betrayal of his father, is apprehended, and his friend steps forward claiming to be Orestes instead. The third is Jesus' commandment to do good to your enemies, which is the opposite of envy, which is resentment aroused at the fortune of others. 

As they move forward, they see a group of penitents calling out to various saints for help. They are covered with horsehair cloth mantles, and their eyes are sewn shut with iron wire. They are forced, through their blindness, to lean on each other to avoid falling over the edge, and so see the benefit of loving your neighbor, rather than being resentful towards him.  

Dante addresses them to see if there is an Italian with whom he could speak, and Sapìa Salvani, a Sienese noblewoman answers. She acknowledges she was not, despite her name, wise. She found more joy in the misfortunes of others than in her own fortunes. And if it weren't for the prayers of a saint named Pietro Pettinaio, she wouldn't have made it to Purgatory. She asks who Dante is, being that he is still alive and his eyes are open. He says he is alive and asks her if she has any requests for him. She asks him to pray for her, since his entire journey must mean that he has received favor from God, and asks that her family also know her fate and pray for her. She ends with a backhanded prophecy, saying her family would be found among those vain Sienese hoping to establish a port at Talamone, but who would lose hope even more than they did in their fruitless search for the Diana, a legendary underground river/spring that the Sienese sought for years. 

Canto XIV  The second level: envy cont.  The canto starts with two of the souls asking who Dante is. They aren't named until half-way through the canto, but they are Guido del Duca and Rinieri da Calboli. Dante responds that he was born by the river that runs through Tuscany, but says giving his name would mean nothing since he is still relatively unknown. Guido notes that he must be speaking of the Arno. Rinieri asks why he hides the name of the river like one who is speaking of horrible things? Guido responds that he doesn't know why, but the name of the Arno valley actually deserves to perish from its source on Mount Falterona (which he says is in the Appenines and gives a brief description of the mountain chain), to where it empties into the Mediterranean sea. Virtue is like an enemy to those that live there, who all flee it as if they had seen a snake. He is unsure whether it's due to mere chance or human manufacture, but whatever the reason for it, the inhabitants have so changed their nature that it would almost seem that the witch Circe had turned them into pigs. He then describes the geographical and moral descent of the river. In the first portion of the river's descent, through the Casentino valley, the residents are called ugly swine. Next he describes the residents of Arezzo as snarling dogs whose bark is worse than their bite. But as the river turns north towards Florence, the snarling dogs turn into wolves, where the valley is more cursed and unfortunate. Finally, the river passes Pisa, where Dante says the inhabitants are like foxes, so full of deceit and treachery they fear no ensnarement themselves. 

Guido continues on with what he describes as a prophecy from the Spirit. He speaks of a grandson of his friend there, Fulcieri da Calboli, who will hunt and kill the wolves of Florence. The devastation though will be so great that it will not be of any honor to him. This causes great pain to his friend Ranieri. 

Dante wants to know who these two men are, and Guido, stating that he will tell Dante who they are, even though Dante himself did them no such favor. He states that he was so full of envy while alive that it showed physically on his face if he ever saw someone happy. He notes that he was reaping now the harvest of what he had sown on earth, and asks a general question to humanity: Why do you set your hearts on what requires you to exclude from others? Since envy is the resentment over the good fortune of others, humans see the collection of goods to themselves as a zero-sum game. If another has it, it's at my expense, which means that the envious heart is required to exclude others in order to grab as much for himself as possible. 

He then introduces Rinieri, by stating that they were both from Romagna, where the territory is so full of vipers that even if it were to be cultivated, it's too late to clear them out. Guido then launches into a list of great leaders in the 'good ole days', none of which would have any meaning for us today, but he is so disheartened by the lack of honesty and goodness in Romagna that he is actually happy that many of the evil lines are dying out. He then tells Dante he has said enough, and asks him to move on. 

Dante and Virgil do move on, and as they get aways around the mountain, they hear first a voice like thunder saying: "Whoever finds me will kill me". These are the words of Cain after the Lord banished him from Eden, and it is meant to act as a warning to the consequences of envy. The second is "I am Aglauros, who became a stone"; from Ovid's retelling of Aglaurus, who was so jealous of her sister's relationship with Mercury that she tried to block Mercury from going to her, and was turned to stone as a result. Virgil explains that such things are meant to act as a bit in the mouths of men, restraining them from going to such places. But men take the bait, and are then pulled all over the place by Satan. Virgil notes that heaven calls to us, and we can actually see its eternal beauty move all around us, but instead, we set our eyes only on earthly things, which causes Him to discipline and punish us. 

Canto XV  The third level: wrath  Dante starts the canto off with a roundabout way of telling us it was around 3 in the afternoon. He says that from the time of the dawn to the third hour (so three hours), in that sphere which always looks like a child playing (the heavenly sphere of the 'sky', so "in the sky"), the sun had about that much time (3 hours) in its course across that sphere (the sky) before evening. Sunset would have been around 6p, so it was three hours before that, or... 3pm. He then mentions they had been traveling around the mountain and were headed towards the sunset, when he gets hit with a very strong reflected light. He then uses 9 lines to explain the light reflects back up at the same angle it comes down at, and so he got hit in the face with this reflected light. He can't figure out what it is, and Virgil lets him know an angel is coming. The angel ushers them up a stairway that is less steep than the previous climbs, so both Dante and Virgil move up from the second level where envy is judged to the third level. On the way up, Dante asks what it was that the 'spirit from Romagna', Guido del Duca, meant when he said that men set their hearts on something that necessarily requires excluding others. Virgil explains that with envy, whatever portion or amount there is; if it is divided, then the possessor has less. Which the envious person can't stand. So an envious person must exclude others in order to keep as much to himself as possible. But in the heavenly understanding, the more one considers possessions not to be "mine", but "ours", the more each one has of that good. Dante questions how it is that if an amount is divided among more men, any one of those could consider they had more, since the amount possessed by each would diminish according to the number of people it was shared with. Virgil notes that he is thinking purely in material terms, which is why he gets darkness from true light. Since God gives us much love as he finds among men, then the more men love and share, the more they will be given, and this just continues to grow, as men continue to love more. Virgil then says Beatrice will explain this even more fully, but for Dante, continue to pursue the removal of the sins as he moves through purgatory. 

At this point, they arrive up at the third level where Dante immediately is taken into three ecstatic visions. The first is the vision of Mary asking the boy Jesus why he worried his parents so by remaining at Jerusalem. The second is taken from Greek mythology where Pisistratus wife is indignant that a youth of the city, in love with their daughter, would dare to approach her and hug her. She demands the father exact revenge on the youth for his presumption. Pisistratus replies that if she wants revenge against someone who loved her daughter, what could she want against those who actually hate them? The third vision is of Stephen, the first martyr in Acts. Each of these visions reveals an example of meekness and mercy. When Dante comes to, Virgil tells him he has gone half a league in this state, and when Dante starts to explain the visions, Virgil lets him know that he already knows them, and that they were given so that Dante would open his heart to the waters of peace that spring from the eternal fountain; or open himself to the peace that comes from God. At this they see a dark smoke coming towards them and the canto ends with the two enveloped in this smoke. 

Canto XVI  The third level: wrath cont.  The canto starts with Dante and Virgil enveloped in the thick smoke. Virgil offers his shoulder for Dante to lean on, and as they move through the smoke, and Dante hears voices all praying and singing in unison. Dante asks Virgil about this, and Virgil says they are all untying the knot of wrath.  

At this point, a voice calls out and asks who is speaking, since he speaks like one who is still alive. 

Dante asks the spirit to follow him, and the spirit agrees to for as long as he is able. Dante explains that he is still alive and has been granted access through all three eternal realms, even up to God's courts. So Dante asks the spirit if they are going towards the ascent to the next level.... but also asks the spirit to tell him who he was in life. He says his name was Marco, and he was a Lombard. He knew the world and loved the courtly values that people these days are no longer interested in. This statement causes Dante to inquire about the nature of why humans go off course. Dante mentions that some blame the stars, essentially blaming a deterministic universe, others blame human conduct. Marco responds that the world is blind, and Dante, still in the world, is blind as well. He says the world always wants to assign blame elsewhere, so they blame the stars or impersonal forces. But if that were true, free will, and any punishment or reward for behavior would be unjust. Heaven started the world turning. Humanity was given light (reason) to see both good and evil, and a free will. If free will endures the fatigue of its first battles with sin, and nurtures good choices, it will conquer all. Though free, men are still subjected to God, and he creates men with a mend that the stars don't control. If this present world is off course then, look no further than the actions of men.  

The nascent soul is considered by God before it is made. It is a tabula rasa, knowing nothing except that, having been made by a joyful maker, it seeks joy in things that entertain it. As it savors things that bring it happiness, it can be fooled and run after those things, unless it is guided by something to direct its desires. So then a law is necessary to restrain it, and a king is necessary to discern where to lead the people.  

In Italy, we have laws, but no longer any emperor to lead the people. The shepherd (the pope) that currently leads Italy is capable of thinking about rule, but that isn't his job and he isn't fit for it. The people, seeing the popes grabbing at temporal goods, lose sight of what they ought to be aiming at, and run after the same things- earthly, material goods, and don't concern themselves with caring about the spiritual and eternal values. Evil rule then is the reason why the earth has become corrupt, not the stars, or some external influence outside humanity. 

Rome had given the world two lights by which to establish justice and peace: a temporal emperor, and a universal church. But the Pope extinguished the emperor and joined the sword to the shepherd's hook through an unnaturally forced effort. These two don't go together and as proof, you can know the plant by its fruit. 

Marco then goes on about his own homeland, Lombardy. He mentions that one used to find valor and courtesy there before Frederick II and the argument with the Pope reduced Frederick's influence in Italy. Now, anyone who is ashamed of his life can pass through Lombardy without having to worry about meeting upright people. There are still three old men whose lives serve as an open rebuke to the current times: Currado da Palazzo, Gherardo da Camino, and Guido da Castel, each upright and honorable men. But the Church, taking on herself both spiritual and temporal power, has fallen into the mud and soiled both her spiritual and temporal leadership.  

Dante notes that Marco has reasoned exceptionally well, but he, Dante, doesn't know of the good Gherardo he was speaking of. Marco can hardly believe that Dante, a Tuscan, would not know of Gherardo, but Marco realizes that he is about to exit the smoke, and he is unable to appear outside of it before an angel that is there, so Marco takes his leave, turns away and here, the canto ends. 

Canto XVII  The third level: wrath, and then the fourth level: sloth  The canto starts with Dante coming out of the smoke and finding the sun almost setting. But then he also finds himself once again drawn to some visions within his own imagination: Procne, who in Greek mythology was punished for her wrath by being turned into a nightingale; Haman being impaled in the book of Esther for trying to exterminate all Jews because he felt slighted by Mordecai; and Lavinia, lamenting her own mother's suicide because the queen couldn't accept Aeneas as a son-in-law. Each are examples of anger punished. But as Dante is coming out of his visions, an angel appears, too bright for them to look on, pointing the way up to the next level. As Dante and Virgil reach the next level, the sun is setting, and they are unable to go on. Dante asks Virgil what sin is punished on this level, and Virgil explains that it is "love of the good, shrunk from its duty"- or sloth. 

Virgil then launches into an explanation of how we, created in love, and patterned after God, who is said to be love, have corrupted this love into various sins. 

Virgil starts with two forms of love: natural (instinctual or inherent love) and 'of the soul' (what can be freely chosen). Animals operate in an instinctive natural love, but only humans have both natural and love directed by free will. Natural love is always correctly directed because it comes from God and isn't freely chosen. But our souls can direct its love towards the wrong object, love things to strongly, or not love what we should enough. As such, the source of even our sins is love, but love directed the wrong way, or in disproportionate measure. 

Virgil argues that everything is really immune from self-hate, and that it can't really conceive of being cut off from God, so no creature truly hates God. Therefore, the only thing left is one of these forms of corrupted love towards our fellow men. The first is to love excellence in order to hold it up over others- this is pride. The second fears others rising up over him, and so loves for others to be brought down, which is envy. The third is to be so touchy that one is only satisfied by revenge, and so loves to plot evil for others, which is anger. These three misdirected loves are wept over and expiated by those in the three levels below. 

Next, Virgil wants Dante to understand the others, that run to some good, but in a corrupted order. 

Everyone at least vaguely understands that there is some good out there (the first good- God) that will satisfy the soul, wants it, and so strives for it. If you see this love, but don't really pursue after it, then it is sloth, and is punished on this level.  

Then there are other goods (secondary, or created goods), which can't bring true happiness because they aren't God, who is the essence of every root and good fruit. Love that abandons itself to this is mourned over in the three circles above. Virgil notes that Dante will want to know how this is divided into three, but Virgil will speak no more for now, for Dante must learn it as he goes. 

Canto XVIII  The fourth level: sloth cont.  The canto starts with Dante considering the arguments from the last canto and wondering if he should pursue it further, when Virgil encourages him to speak. Dante then asks for some clarification about how love leads to both good and evil works.  

The basic argument Virgil makes is that the soul, a combo of the intellect and will, is created to love easily, and is disposed to everything that pleases it. You perceive things from reality, your mind opens it up and the soul turns towards it and may open itself towards that thing, which is love. This is all natural. But just as fire climbs ever higher, so the soul, when the captured soul enters into desire, it won't rest until it brings joy to the thing it loves. Clearly, depending on the things the soul loves, whether good or evil, actions will be good or evil. 

Dante then wonders why, if this is all natural, a soul can be held accountable for simply doing what is in its nature. Virgil responds that there is some aspect of this that will have to be taken by faith, and that Beatrice can explain it further. But the substance of man, the thing that makes him an individual human, holds a particular power or strength. This strength has two components: intellect and will. You don't see them except for the effect, just like you know a plant is alive by the green in its branches.  Noone knows where the primal love of desirable things comes from, but the combination of the intellect and will counsels our decisions and means that we must give assent to our actions. From this, the rationale for merit comes, because we understand our choices, deliberate, and choose either good or evil. So while love springs from necessity, where we direct that love is up to us. Beatrice understands this all as free will and will explain it to you. 

At this point, it is almost midnight, and Dante is starting to fade into sleep, when suddenly, a group comes racing up behind them. Dante likens them to the incited crowds of a Bacchan orgy. But two in front yell out: Mary hastened to the hill country, drawn from Luke 1 when Mary went to visit Elizabeth after hearing she was pregnant; and Caesar hastening to Spain to conquer Lerida. Then they add that they must apply themselves to doing good, which reinvigorates grace.  

Virgil asks them how to get to the next level up. One tells them to fall in behind them, explaining that he was the Abbot of San Zeno in Verona. He then gives a little prophecy about Alberto della Scala regretting that had had power over that monastery given what will happen to him when he dies, because he left an evil son in charge there in place of the true shepherd. After that, the man had gotten too far away and Dante could no longer hear him. 

Bringing up the rear were too more who denounced sloth by citing the examples of the Israelites who died in the desert because they were unwilling to head up to the promised land, and the men of Aeneas camp who preferred to stay in Sicily than follow their glorious destiny. 

By that time though, Dante is losing his ability to stay awake and he falls asleep, ending the canto. 

Canto XIX  The fourth level: sloth cont.  The canto picks up just before dawn with Dante dreaming of a stammering woman, described as cross-eyed, lame, stumps for arms, and washed out skin. But as he stares at her, she is transformed into a beauty. At this point her stammering is transformed into clear speech and she begins to sing in such a voice that Dante would find it difficult to pull away. She declares herself to be the Siren that pulls sailors from the high seas and turned Ulysses from his journey, and whoever stays with her will always be fully satisfied. At this point, a holy woman appeared and threw the witch into confusion. She calls out to Virgil, who grabs the Siren and exposes her for who she is, so that her belly gives of a stench. 

The siren is clearly a representation of earthly goods or other things that, when man stares long enough, begin to bewitch him and his own staring converts them from base things to something supremely desirable.  

Virgil, having exposed the witch, tells Dante to get up because the passage up to the next level is close by. An angel beckons them both and as they pass through the opening, they hear 'blessed are those that mourn'.  

Sloth, which was defined in canto 17 as 'love of the good, shrunk from its duty'. We understand sloth today as just "slow", but in the context of sloth as a sin, it is a neglectful attitude in pursuing good. For this reason, the beatitude at the exit of the fourth level is 'Blessed are those that mourn', because while sloth is a failure to delight in Godly things that bring true delight, and conversely a focus on the immediacy of earthly delights that ultimately bring sorrow, the remedy would be a mourning that endures the suffering of the earthly things, with a view to an eternal, Godly perspective. 

As Dante and Virgil head up, Virgil notices Dante moving with his head turned to the ground and lost in thought about the dream with the Siren. Virgil tells him that she is an ancient witch, the sins of which are repented of in the levels above them, but that Dante himself saw how man frees himself of her- divine grace would have to strip away the deceivingly attractive façade to reveal the ugly reality behind it.  

The fifth level: avarice  The travelers reach the fifth level, where they see people everywhere lying face down, and sighing "my soul clings to the ground". Virgil immediately asks where the passage is to the next level, and one of the penitents says keep their right sides to the outside of the mountain and they'll get there quickest. 

Virgil intuits that Dante wants to speak to the spirit and so gives his assent. Dante asks who he is and why he is on his face, and if there is anything the spirit would like Dante to do anything for him when Dante returns to the land of the living. 

The spirit, in answer to the first question, says he is Pope Adriano V... well, he doesn't actually name himself, but he alludes to his family and birthplace, from which we can ascertain that it was Pope Adriano V. He declares that a little over a month in to his term as pope, he realized that, while he had attained the highest office possible, he had no peace in his heart, and he was converted when he noted his false life and love was sparked in him.  Prior to that point, he was utterly avaricious, for which he is being punished as they can see. 

In answer to the second question, avarice is a love of earthly goods, and since the avaricious are so fixated on earthly things, here as punishment, their faces are glued to the earth. And because of their love of things useless, meaning their work on earth had no point, here they are bound hand and foot. 

At this point, Dante, in respect for his office as Pope, begins to kneel, but Adrian reprimands him and lets him know that he, even though a pope, is a servant of God just like anyone else. Then he mentions that if Dante had ever heard the phrase from the gospel where Jesus says of those in heaven "they neither marry", he would understand why. The gospel reference is in response to the Sadducees question about who a woman's husband would be, if she had been married and widowed several times. Jesus tells them that people in heaven are like the angels- not married- because every believer is 'wedded' to Jesus. Pope Adrian V is then saying that every believer is a servant to God alone, not subject to the earthly hierarchies. 

In answer to the third question, Adrian says he no longer wants to discourse with Dante, but he has only one person on earth, his niece Alagia, who would still pray for him. 

Here the canto ends. 

Canto XX  The fifth level: avarice cont.  The canto starts by saying Dante wanted to stay longer to hear more, but couldn't. He likens this to having to pull a sponge from the water before it has soaked up all it could. But he moves on stepping gingerly to avoid the prostrate penitents as he moves along the inner portion of the road.  

Dante curses the ancient she-wolf, symbolizing greed, that we met in Inferno canto 1, as claiming more victims than perhaps any other sin, and asking how long until God comes back to clear up the mess and banish sin. 

As Dante and Virgil move through the bodies, he hears praises of Mary for her humility in accepting the manger as the birthplace for her child; the consul Fabricius who turned down bribes and died poor; and Saint Nicholas, whose generosity saved some young maidens from being prostituted.  

Dante comes closer to find out who it is that recalls such worthy figures, and offers to bless the soul with petitions to help him on his way with prayers when he returns to earth. The soul declines any favors but replies that he is Hugh Capet, father of the lineage of French kings. He laments the avarice of Charles of Anjou in particular, who he lambasts as an avaricious man through fraud and deceit. He notes another Charles that will come in treachery and cause division in Florence, leading to Dante's own ouster. Then he mentions a third Charles (the second) who will imprison a pope and in doing so, commit the same measure of crime that was committed against Jesus. 

Then he notes that the praises Dante had heard are what they all utter, only he happened to be uttering it a bit louder at the time Dante passed, and so was heard. He also notes that at night, they no longer utter praises, but curses against the avaricious: like Pygmalion, who killed his brother-in-law to grab his wealth; Midas, whose greedy wish became his curse; Achan, the Israelite who kept spoils back that were supposed to be destroyed and was stoned to death for it; Ananias and Sapphira, who, in the book of Acts, held back profit from a land sale and tried to deceive the church; Heliodorus, the treasurer of the King of Syria, who was sent to seize the Temple of Jerusalem's treasure and was kicked by a horse; Polymnestor, who killed Polydorus to get his wealth, and finally Crassus, the triumvir with Caesar and Pompey, whose avarice was well known- he was killed and his mouth filled with molten gold. 

Then Dante and Virgil move on when the mountain is shaken strongly and a heavenly choir sings "Glory to God in the highest". Dante and Virgil move on, but the canto ends with Dante wanting to know more of what just happened. 

Canto XXI  The fifth level: avarice cont.  The canto starts with Dante still wanting to know what had just happened on the mountain, but as Dante and Virgil move down the road, they are aware someone has come up behind them. The soul greets them, and Virgil returns with a greeting that lets the stranger know that he, Virgil, is in eternal exile. This causes the soul to wonder how it is that Virgil has escaped hell? Virgil responds that Dante is among those that will go to heaven, but since he is still alive, he needed a guide to lead him through the realms since he is unable to see as they, the shades, do.  Virgil then asks about the earthquake and the shouting. The soul replies that nothing happens on the mountain beyond what divine will orders, including any meteorological events. But at the moment a soul feels itself purified from the sin it is being purged of, the mountain trembles and the shout follows. He explains that every soul, of course wants to ascend, but it also feel in itself, that it must pay according to divine justice the penalties for its sin, and so won't move until it feels itself free to do so. The answer satisfies Dante, who had been longing to know.  

Virgil asks who the soul is, and why he had been required to lay there for so many centuries. The soul mentions that he lived in the time when Titus had destroyed the temple in 70 AD, and avenged the blood of Jesus on the Jews who killed him. He was a famous poet, but not a believer. He had been brought to Rome from Toulouse (Dante had his info wrong, the poet was actually from Naples), and his name was Statius. He had a famous poem about Thebes, and was in the middle of a work about Achilles, when he died. But Statius reveals that his love of poetry was sparked by Virgil's Aeneid, and Statius himself would have gladly spent another year in purgatory for the privilege of living when Virgil lived. 

At this Virgil turns to Dante and gives him a look to not say anything. Dante has a hard time controlling himself though, and a slight smile escapes. Statius asks Dante why, and finally Virgil gives Dante the ok to tell who he is. Dante tells Statius that the guide with whom he has been speaking is the same Virgil. At this, Statius kneels and tries to hug Virgil's feet, but Virgil tells him to knock it off, since they are both no more than shades. Statius acknowledges this, but says that the very fact of his forgetting this, bespeaks his love for Virgil. Here the canto ends. 

Canto XXII  The sixth level: gluttony  The canto starts with the entrance to the sixth level, and while Virgil, Dante, and Statius climb, Virgil and Statius converse. Virgil lets Statius know that he actually knew of Statius love for him because another soul was in limbo that had related this to him. Virgil asks Statius how someone with so much wisdom could have been in the level of avarice for so long. Statius replies that it wasn't avarice, but its inverse: profligacy, that was his sin. Both are punished on the same level. Statius also reveals that it was Virgil's own writing that prompted him to become a Christian. One of Virgil's lines caused Statius to reconsider his sin and repent, and another verse, mentioning a 'new progeny descending from heaven', along with the preaching of the Christians, caused him to turn to the Christian faith. But sadly, he was afraid, so he hid his faith and pretended to be a pagan. It was this that caused him to spend so much time in purgatory. 

Then Statius turns and asks Virgil about who else is there in limbo. A list of names follows that I won't bore you with, but they finally all arrive up at the sixth level late in the morning. They continue to head counterclockwise around the mountain when they come upon a tree in the middle of the road, tapered upwards. It has sweet apples, and is watered by a stream that pours over the leaves and dissipates. Voices proclaim that one can't partake of this fruit. Then several examples are given of holy living in the past, where self-denial is extolled. This is the level that purges the sin of gluttony. 

[thetldrplace]

On Contradiction- Mao Zedong

Another essay from the Selected works of Mao Zedong- August 1937 

First off, the marxist use of contradiction needs to be understood as 'opposing natures that are interconnected and interrelated'; not as 'mutually exclusive statements or states', as defined in the law of non-contradiction. We use the verb to contradict, as meaning to deny a truth by asserting the opposite, which is closer to the Marxist usage. It is an opposite, but in the sense of a flip side of a coin... maybe that's a better way to understand it. Mao gives some examples that clarify: advance and retreat during war. One side advances, while the other retreats. Those are both opposite natures, but there is no advance without the other retreating. Now Mao (along with Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, so he claims) insists that this discovery of Marx is the universal truth of everything, so that literally nothing exists without it. The main point is that we aren't to look at things as static, but constantly in motion.  

Mao lists 6 philosophical problems that need to be clarified in order to come to a fundamental understanding of materialist dialectics. 

1 There are two outlooks: the metaphysical and dialectical conceptions of the world 

The metaphysical outlook is idealist and sees the things as isolated, static, and one-sided. It sees the universe and its components as eternally isolated from each other and immutable. Movement is created from external forces. 

The dialectical materialist conception is to understand a thing in relation to other things, since each thing is interrelated and interacts with the things around it. The fundamental cause of movement isn't external, but internal contradictions (opposing natures) within the thing. These contradictions are also the fundamental cause of its development. Changes in the nature of the thing are due chiefly to the development of the internal contradictions in society. 

2 The universality of contradiction 

There is nothing that does not contain contradiction, and without contradiction, nothing would exist. Life consists precisely and primarily in that a being is at each moment itself, and yet something else. Life is therefore also a contradiction which is present in things and processes themselves. 

3 The particularity of contradiction 

While all things have contradictions, each form of motion has its particular contradiction. Mao lists several examples: positive and negative numbers in math, action and reaction in physics, dissociation and combination in chemistry, forces of production and relations of production in social sciences, offense and defense in military sciences, etc. The main point is to identify the particular contradictions of the thing studied so that it can be understood. 

4 The principle contradiction and the principal aspect of a contradiction 

There can be many contradictions in the process of development of a thing, but there will be a principal contradiction whose existence and development determine the influence and existence of the other contradictions. Mao gives the example of capitalist society: the proletariat and bourgeoisie form the principal contradiction. Other contradictions between the remnant feudal class and the bourgeoisie, between the petty bourgeoisie and the bourgeoisie, etc are all determined by the principal contradiction. In any complex situation where there are many contradictions, every effort must be made to determine the principal contradiction. Once that is identified, all problems can be readily solved. 

Every contradiction is made up of two contradictory aspects, which are uneven. The nature of a thing is going to be made up primarily of the principal aspect of a contradiction- the aspect which has gained the dominant position. 

5 The identity and struggle of the aspects of a contradiction 

The contradictory aspects  in every process exclude each other, struggle with each other, and are in opposition to one another. But no contradictory aspect can exist in isolation: without the opposite aspect, each loses the condition for its existence. So each is the condition for the other's existence, and this is the first meaning of identity. The second, and more important meaning is their transformation into each other. 

"Under socialism, private peasant ownership is transformed into the public ownership of socialist agriculture; this has already taken place in the Soviet Union and will take place everywhere else. There is a bridge leading from private property to public property, which in philosophy is called identity, or transformation into each other, or interpenetration. 

"To consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat or the dictatorship of the people is in fact to prepare the conditions for abolishing this dictatorship and advancing to the higher stage when all state systems are eliminated." 

All contradictory things are interconnected and transform themselves into each other. This is just how things are in objective reality. But the identity of opposites only exists in necessary given conditions. 

6 The place of antagonism in contradiction 

Antagonism is one form, but not the only form, of the struggle of opposites. Before a bomb explodes, it is a single entity in which the opposites coexist in given conditions. The explosion takes place only when a new condition- ignition, is present. 

"It is impossible to accomplish any leap in social development and to overthrow the reactionary ruling classes and therefore impossible for the people to win political power. Social revolution is not only entirely necessary but also entirely practicable, and the whole history of mankind and the triumph of the Soviet Union have confirmed this scientific truth." 

Mao writes this: "At present, the contradiction between correct and incorrect thinking in our party does not manifest itself in antagonistic form, and if comrades who have committed mistakes can correct them, it will not develop into antagonism. Therefore the Party must on the one hand wage a serious struggle against erroneous thinking, and on the other give the comrades who have committed errors ample opportunity to wake up." 

Dave Notes: 

I'm not convinced the Marxist materialist dialectic is all that useful. I feel like Mao's characterization of its opposite is a caricatured straw-man version in general, and probably inapplicable in many instances. In other words, the opposite side isn't really so one-sided as is portrayed by the worshippers of Marx. 

But even granting the premises for a moment: they state that contradictions are inherent and nothing exists without contradiction. But then seem to be looking forward to a communist utopia where no contradictions exist. Perhaps I'm reading this incorrectly, but that's a logical contradiction. 

Also, while Mao occasionally gives some examples of how this works, some of the examples he gives seem like real stretches, and most of his examples are Marx's assertions about contradictions in capitalist society. 

 But in the last section I note the ominous statements about comrades who have committed incorrect thinking, which if persisted in, would necessitate the Party engaging in a serious struggle against them. 

This runs into one of the core necessities of any totalitarian system: the necessity for one person to decide what exactly counts as orthodoxy. This is NOT a democratic system. Communists don't vote about what will be official policy. As Mao makes clear, there is right thinking, and the rest is wrong thinking. But given that any two people will disagree over some things, these totalitarian systems always come down to needing one person, or at most, a very small group of people, to make the decision on what exactly is going to count as orthodoxy. The outside opinions are then going to be considered heterodox and wrong thinking. And as we can see from Mao's writing here: such wrong thinking will have to be seriously purged from the party.  

[thetldrplace]

On Practice- Mao Zedong

This is a recap of Mao's On Practice, written in 1937.

I've taken this from the "Selected Works of Mao Zedong", published by the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute.

Mao means to combat two errors he saw in the party: dogmatists who were more interested in theory than in practice, and empiricists who restricted their 'knowledge' to their own limited experience, refusing to look further. 

Mao says there are two stages to knowledge. The first is the perception of what is happening. This is a knowledge based in the reality of what is. Human knowledge can't be separated from practice.  

The second stage is to form concepts that grasp the essence, the totality and the internal relations of things. From these, one forms judgments and references. 

Mao says the dialectical-materialist theory of the process of the development of knowledge, basing itself on practice and proceeding from the shallower to the deeper, was never worked out by anybody before the rise of Marxism. Marxist materialism solved this problem correctly for the first time. 

"Marxist philosophy has two outstanding characteristics: one is its class nature, the second is its practicality. Theory depends on practice, and in turn, serves practice. The truth of any knowledge or theory is determined not by subjective feelings, but by objective results in social practice." 

"The people with real personal knowledge are those engaged in practice the wide world over. If you want knowledge, you must take part in the practice of changing reality. If you want the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it yourself. All genuine knowledge originates in direct experience. But one cannot have direct experience of everything: as a matter of fact, most of our knowledge comes from indirect experience, for example, from past times and foreign lands." 

Two points must be emphasized: the first is that perceptual knowledge is dependent on rational knowledge, and the rational is reliable precisely because it has its source in sense perceptions; the second is that knowledge needs to be deepened. "It is necessary through the exercise of thought, to reconstruct the rich data of sense perception, discarding the dross and selecting the essential, eliminating the false and retaining the true, proceeding from the one to the other and from the outside to the inside, in order to form a system of concepts and theories. It is necessary to make a leap from the perceptual to rational knowledge." 

"Marxist philosophy holds that the most important problem does not lie in understanding the laws of the objective world and thus being able to explain it, but in applying the knowledge of these laws actively to change the world. Marxism emphasizes the importance of theory, precisely, and only, because it can guide action. Knowledge begins with practice, and theoretical knowledge is gained through practice, and must then return to practice." 

"the objective world which is to be changed also includes all the opponents of change, who, in order to be changed, must go through a stage of compulsion before they can enter the stage of voluntary, conscious change. The epoch of world communism will be reached when all mankind voluntarily and consciously changes itself and the world." 

My own notes: 

The idea that one looks around at the world, sees what is happening, and then formulates hypotheses about why the phenomena occurs is the scientific method. Mao formulates it in Marxist terms as perception leads to theory, but it's the same process. It's also perfectly rational that one should discard hypotheses that don’t bear out in reality, and in so doing, one will come to a closer notion of the truth, truth being defined here as 'that which corresponds with reality'.  

The odd thing to me is that while the Marxists say these things, they don't really seem to ever turn the focus to the real-world examples of Marxism itself. Even in 1937 when Mao was writing this, it was already apparent that much of what Marx thought would occur in the capitalist world, was not occurring. It should also have been apparent that the beliefs about communism as a functional system were also false. When Mao wrote that truth is determined by objective results in social practice, these things were becoming evident already after 18 years of socialism in Soviet Russia. The Marxists should have "reconstructed the rich data of sense perception, discarded the dross and selected the essential, eliminated the false and retained the true", yet they were so married to their theory of Marxism, that they were blinded to the failures of their own system. While they proclaimed to be the most scientific, the most committed to reality, they were in fact committing the very error Mao himself condemned by being wedded to unproven ideas. Marxists said that "social practice alone is the criterion of the truth of one's knowledge....man's knowledge is verified ONLY when he achieves the anticipated results in the process of social practice".  

Yet, in actual practice, communist systems were notorious for lying, manufacturing data to support their predetermined conclusions, and shutting down any dissenting voices that would contradict the official narrative.  

Now perhaps I'd give the Chinese communists in these days some credit along these lines when they ditched communism for a market system. I know the ostensible reason was that the markets would have to develop to the point where socialism would then take over, but I doubt anybody really buys that, particularly when the CCP has been overseeing the effort on its watch. But they could only claim faithfulness to the dialectical materialist process then by ditching Marxism in favor of markets.

[thetldrplace]

Polybius- the Histories, Book Six

Book Six covers the Roman constitution, and his thoughts on government in general, the Roman constitution, and other constitutions in comparison was THE reason I read the book.

The other books/chapters cover the history of how the Roman republic came to dominate the entire Mediterranean world. Polybius starts from the beginning of the first Punic war (war between Rome and Carthage), and gets to Hannibal's invasion and Rome's defeat at Cannae. The rest of the writings have been lost.

Polybius outlines three kinds of political systems: kingship, aristocracy, and democracy; the best would incorporate some of each of these constitutions. There are also negative versions of each of these.  

Kingship refers to monarchy which has the subjects' consent and which governs by rational principles rather than fear and coercion. 

Aristocracy- rule of the best, is presided over by a select group of supremely moral and wise men. 

Democracy is where the majority prevails, but retains the traditional values of piety, care of parents, respect for elders, and obedience to laws.  

The opposites to these are tyranny, oligarchy, and ochlocracy, or mob-rule. 

In a natural course of events, the first to arise is monarchy. In the face of human catastrophes, humans band together, and under these circumstances, someone with exceptional strength and mental daring will assert command over the others. The rest will assent to this and follow the most aggressive and strongest. After a while, group feelings of kinship and intimacy form ideas of right and wrong, good and bad, based on the importance of duty. If the ruler consistently supports the good and right, and his subjects see his rule as appropriate, they stop being frightened and accept his rule. They will work together to support him and defend him against assaults and schemes. From then on, his descendants will find favor not by their physical prowess, but by their application of wisdom and judgment. 

What naturally happens in descendants is that once society is secured and adequate supply is obtained, rulers are tempted to indulge their appetites and set themselves apart, which arouses people's disgust and hostility, which in turn sways the kings against the people and just rule becomes tyranny. Those most noble and high-minded are the first to feel the insolence of the ruler, and so conspiracies to replace the ruler come from them.  

The common people will first accept these high-minded men as champions against the unjust tyranny, which brings about a new era of aristocracy. At first, these men made the common good their top priority, and managed affairs responsibly and properly. But their sons, with no conception of hardship, and just as little of political equality or the right of citizens to speak their mind; and being surrounded by their father's powers and privileges, change aristocracy into oligarchy. 

Sooner or later, someone will speak up against the ruling oligarchs and notice that the majority of people are with him. Knowing that past monarchs have gone bad, and the current ruling class has shown them that government can't be entrusted to a few, the remaining principle is to rely on themselves. So democracy is instituted.  

The first generation, familiar with oligarchic excess, will be fully committed to equality and the right of every citizen to speak. But by the third generation, the principles of freedom and equality are too familiar to be important, and some will want to get ahead of others. They will squander fortunes on bribery and corrupting the general populace in all sorts of ways, in the longing for power. The common people, greedy for largesse and willing to accept it, then overthrow democracy and replace it with violence. Once people are accustomed to eating off other's tables and expect their daily needs to be met, them, when they find someone to champion their cause, a man of vision and daring rises, they band together and set about murdering, banishing, and redistributing land, until they are reduced to a bestial state and once again, a monarch arises over them.  

Lycurgus of Sparta (8th or 9th century BS, but perhaps even mythical) had recognized this tendency and set about to take the best elements of all three in order to prevent any of them growing beyond the point where it would degenerate into its congenital vice. Kings were prevented from becoming overbearing by the fear of the citizen body, who were assigned a fair share in the government; the common citizens were deterred from disrespecting the king by fear of the elders, all of whom were bound to cleave constantly to justice, because the criterion for selection for the council of Elders was virtue. 

The Roman constitution was arrived at more by trial and error, but the result was the same. 

The three areas of the Roman constitution are the consuls, the Senate, and the common people. 

1) While the consuls are in Rome, before taking their armies out into the field, they are responsible for all matters of public concern, since all their officers are subordinate and carry out their orders. 

The consuls draw up the agenda of issues requiring the Senate's attention, and they're responsible for carrying out the Senate's decrees. 

It is the consuls' responsibility to see that all matters of state require validation by the people in the sense that they convene assemblies, present bills, and preside over the people's decision making. 

When it comes to war, the consuls' power is nearly unlimited. 

2) The Senate's most important role is that it controls the treasury; it is responsible for all state revenues and almost all expenditure. With the exception of money withdrawn for use by the consuls, questors must gain formal Senate permission to spend money for any particular purpose. 

All crimes committed in Italy  require public investigation and fall under the jurisdiction of the Senate. 

The Senate sends delegates outside Italy to arbitrate disputes, etc. When delegations from abroad arrive in Rome, it is the Senate's job to decide how to treat them, etc. 

3) The people's part may seem small- they control rewards and punishments. The people weigh in on the political decisions, and ultimately decide whether treaties are ratified, the nation goes to war, legislation is assessed positively or negatively. Negative assessments will always come back on those that propose things the people don't like, so it acts as a check and balance to the overall political work. 

A consul, after setting out with his forces, would seem to have absolute authority, but in fact he still needs the Senate and people. He is incapable of concluding his business without them. He needs a constant stream of supplies, which requires the Senate. His initiatives will come to nothing without Senate support. The Senate can also thwart, or obstruct, his plans and projects. The Senate can award, or deny, a triumph. 

The people also have a say over his treaties because they have the power to ratify or not. Consuls also have to undergo audits by the people while in office. 

The Senate too needs to defer to the people in its political sphere. The people validate the Senate's decrees. The people can decide whether or not to pass laws depriving the Senate of some of its authority. If one of the tribunes of the people vetoes the Senate's deliberations, it may not be allowed to even assemble or vote at all. 

The people likewise depend on the Senate and must defer to it. All the properties that fall under the control of the Roman state are managed by members of the general populace. 

Polybius then spends a lot of time detailing how the Roman military works, which I won't recap here. 

He closes out the book/chapter comparing the Roman constitution to others. He particularly mentions two that were believed to have excellent constitutions: Thebes and Athens. But Polybius notes that Thebes 'glory' was due not to their constitution, but the excellence of a few men at the time, after which the state declined precipitously. He makes a statement with regard to Athens that I found interesting: "the best analogy for Athenian democracy is a ship without a captain. On such a ship, the crew do their duty outstandingly well as long as fear of the open sea or the threat of storm induces them to cooperate with one another and obey the helmsman. But when there is no cause for alarm, they start to ignore their superiors and to fall out with one another." 

He then looks at the governance of Sparta and Crete, but notes: "It is my view that every state is the product of two factors, which determine whether its institutions and constitution are good or bad. These factors are customs and traditions. When customs and traditions are good, they make private citizens respectful and restrained, and give the state an equitable and fair character, but when they are bad, they have the opposite effect. Therefore, just as we can confidently infer that the citizens of a state with good customs and traditions will themselves be good and will have a good system of government, so it also makes perfect sense to conclude, when we came across a state where individuals are rapacious and public policies are unjust, that the traditions, local customs, and entire system of government are bad." 

He dismisses Plato's ideas on government since they were only theoretical and never put into practice. It would be inappropriate for discussion to compare it to the real world until it proves it can act in the real world. 

While the Spartan constitution proved excellent in Sparta, it fell apart with Spartan military ambitions. At that point it proved it couldn't scale up. For this reason, Polybius considers the Roman constitution superior and more dynamic. 

He addresses the Carthaginian constitution, saying it's original form was good: the suffetes were kings, the Council acted as the aristocrats, and the common people had their own areas of responsibility. 

The particular area of comparison is in warcraft. Carthage concentrated on naval power, and ignored their infantry. The reason is because Carthage uses foreign mercenaries. This means Carthaginian freedom always relies on the commitment of mercenaries. 

One further note worth recounting is Polybius' concern with cultural approaches to money. In Carthage, nothing that leads to profit is considered disgraceful, whereas in Rome, nothing is more disgraceful than accepting a bribe or seeking profit from shady transactions.  

[thetldrplace]

Purgatorio: Cantos 1-11

There are 33 cantos in the Purgatorio, so I'll post the recap in three sections of 11 cantos each. Here's the first 11 chapters.

Canto I  Dante starts off by saying his little ship of ingenuity would raise its sails to run through better waters, leaving such the cruel sea of hell behind. Now he enters the second realm where the human spirit purifies itself and becomes worthy to ascend to heaven. He tells his poetry to rise up from the subject of the dead, and invokes the holy Muses, particularly Calliope, and mentions a story of the daughters of the king of Thessaly, who challenged Calliope, muse of epic poetry, to a singing contest. Of course Calliope wins, but in retribution for their presumption, she turns the daughters into magpies and references the moment when the daughters knew they were beaten by hearing Calliope herself sing. Dante hopes his poetry would rise up to the level of providing that kind of impact to the reader.  

He mentions that the sapphire blue color of the eastern sky came as a delight to his eyes again, after having emerged from the pitch-black tunnel up out of hell. Venus was brightening the sky, and as he turns to the south, he sees four stars that had not been seen since Adam and Eve were in the garden of Eden. The four stars are metaphorically the four virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. 

One commentary on this is that the northern hemisphere has been widowed and deprived of their sight. The realm of purgatory offers sinners the opportunity to work towards freedom. Interestingly enough, purgatory, as an official doctrine of the Catholic church, dates only to 1274 at the Second Council of Lyon. Dante himself is writing less than fifty years after that, so he treads on essentially completely new ground. The idea of purgatory may be inferred from a few places in the bible, but it is never mentioned specifically. 

Then they run across Cato of Utica, who questions how they managed to escape hell. 

Cato the Younger, as he is known, was an influential senator in the late Roman Republic. Interestingly enough, two conspirators against Caesar, Brutus and Cassius, are reserved for two of the three worst positions in Hell. While Cato, also a conspirator, is here in Purgatory. Also, Cato committed suicide, which was among the sins punished in the seventh circle of hell. But the difference would be that Cato was also a supreme Roman patriot. Even his suicide was an honorable escape for patriotic reasons. His opposition to Caesar was done in defense of the Roman republic, and he had stood many times against powerful generals who wanted to undo the republic. For these reasons, Dante has placed him here, rather than in hell. 

Virgil tells him that Dante was at the point of being lost in life when Beatrice contacted him (Virgil), and sent him to rescue Dante. But the way of salvation was first through hell, and now up through purgatory. Virgil tells Cato that Dante seeks freedom, which he, Cato, knows is dear, since he too lost his life for the cause of liberty. But just so Cato knows, the heavenly edicts have not been broken of the dead rising from hell, since Dante has not yet died; nor is he (Virgil) in violation either since he was in limbo, not hell proper. He then states that he lives there were Cato's wife Martia lives, and that he, Virgil, would gladly take news of Cato's favor upon Virgil and Dante back to her. 

Cato says while he once would have done anything for Martia, he is no longer moved by her desires, since she is in hell. But, if Beatrice from heaven wills their journey, then he would certainly help. 

This interaction between Virgil and Cato signals a real difference between hell and purgatory. While the souls here are being purged of their sins, they are still saved. Virgil is not. This is not his realm and he has not been here before. He attempts a human connection as part of negotiation, but is immediately told that has no power here.  

Cato tells Virgil to take him down to the shore and get a reed to wrap around Dante's waist, and to wash his face, since it would not be fitting to have some of the grime of the sin of hell still clinging to Dante when they appear before the angel guardian. The reed would be a symbol of humility since it is pliable, but strong.  

Then Cato vanishes, and Virgil leads Dante down to the shore, picks out a reed, and washes Dante's face with the dew that was still on the plants. 

They are at the shore when Dante notices that another reed had sprung into place where Virgil had plucked up the one that he girded around Dante. 

Here the canto ends. 

There is a cool rhyme over the last two terzinas that recalls the difference between Ulysses' attempt to gain this mountain on his own, and Dante's arrival here by Divine will. 

navicar sue acque     (navigate her waters)  com'altrui piacque    (as Another pleased)  cotal si rinacque        (such a one is reborn) 

Canto II  Canto 2 starts off with a confusing scheme for telling time, which apparently will be really important throughout Purgatorio. "The sun had reached the horizon where the meridian circle covers Jerusalem": so the meridian circle is the imaginary circle that runs around the circumference of the sphere. If that circle was at Jerusalem, which is considered the most important point in Dante's scheme, since it was where Jesus was crucified, then the sun being at the horizon would mean it was setting in Jerusalem, and therefore dawn where our travelers are in purgatory, which, if you remember, is directly opposite Jerusalem. Dante confirms this by telling us night is rising out of the Ganges, which is another point meant to denote east of Jerusalem. Noting that the "Scales" (the constellation Libra) are being dropped from night's hand when she surpasses, is to be understood that as the night is now longer than the day, the autumnal equinox has just been passed. Like I said, it's a really elaborate way, utilizing the constellations, to tell us that it's basically around 6am. Anyway.... Dante sees some lights coming in the west over the ocean, and little by little, it becomes clear that the lights are the wings of the angel piloting the boat bringing recently deceased spirits to the shores of mount purgatory. 

Virgil yells out for Dante to fall on his knees and fold his hands for Dante will now see the angel of God who can travel between such distant shores merely with his wings. He comes ashore and more than a hundred spirits jump out on to the land, at which point the boat turns around and heads back for more. The new arrivals, not knowing what to do, see Dante and Virgil and ask if they can point them in the right direction. Virgil says he and Dante are pilgrims just like them, and only recently arrived themselves, though through a much more arduous route. The group of spirits then notice that Dante himself is still alive and gather around him. Then one, Casella, a fellow singer and poet, recognizes Dante as a friend. Dante asks how has so much time been taken from him? I assumed this means Dante feels he has died "before his time", but I was mistaken. Casella had apparently passed some three months ago, and Dante was asking what took him so long to get to the shores of purgatory. Even Casella's initial response would seem to confirm my original understanding, when he assures Dante no wrong was done to him. I would have thought he was telling Dante, 'I wasn't murdered or anything like that', but while Casella never divulges the reason why, he simply says that he was denied entrance to the boat three times, which I think means he accepts that the angel did him no wrong in making him wait, but Casella himself accepts that the angel can choose as he wills since his choice is righteous. The three months wait may be reference to a papal bull granting some sort of absolution since it was the year of the Jubilee. At any rate, something caused Casello to have to wait three months before he would be accepted on the boat, but here he is. 

There is an odd bit too where those waiting to go to mount purgatory gather at the mouth of the Tiber river. 

Anyway, Dante asks Casello if, since Dante is exhausted from the journey up from hell, he would sing some lines from some of his love poetry, which used to comfort Dante so much while still in the world. Casello launches off into a song and everyone gathers to listen... when Cato shows up and says "What are you DOING??!! What negligence!! why are you standing around here??? RUN to the mountain and get these obstacles that are keeping the Lord from being made known to you stripped off!!"  

At that point, everyone beats it outta there, running towards the coast to gird themselves with the reeds.  

Canto III  Ante-purgatory: the excommunicated  Canto 3 starts where canto 2 left off, with the new arrivals scattering quickly while Dante holds tight to Virgil. Virgil has been stung by Cato's rebuke, but after initially starting off in a rush, like the others, he slows down to a more dignified pace. At this point, Dante is a head a little bit, and notices that there is only one shadow, his own. He panics and thinks maybe he has outrun Virgil, and when he turns around, Virgil comforts him and explains that 1) he will not abandon Dante, and 2) his own body is buried now at Naples, having been removed from Brindisi. So this spiritual body that he has right now will not cast any shadow, just like light passes right through the bodies in heaven. Then he answers a question that probably many have been wondering about: how is it that bodies can be tortured in hell, and purified here by physical punishments? Did I say he answers it? Not really. He says it's beyond human comprehension to understand what kind of bodies are assigned to this state and its foolish to think that man could traverse such infinite ways as could hold contain the trinity. Then Virgil mentions that if man were able to grasp such things, it wouldn't have been necessary for Mary to have given birth to Jesus. The implication here is that man, in his fallen state, no longer has access to God, and man's own mind has been corrupted. Jesus came to restore the path to God, and though salvation doesn't immediately restore the ability to understand such things, perhaps in our restoration to the fullness of glory, it will. 

But Virgil laments that Dante has already seen such (Aristotle and Plato), that desired to understand such things, but without reaching it. The could have been satisfied, but now they suffer eternal grief in Limbo, knowing that they will never reach it. Then Virgil is overcome by grief and can't go on. 

They come to the foot of the mountain and meet so steep a cliff, that they could not scale up it. Virgil is looking down and trying to figure out a way up, and Dante, looking up, notices a group of people proceeding so slowly, that it seemed they weren't even moving. Dante lets Virgil know there is a group approaching and may the group could advise them how to best begin the ascent. 

Virgil approaches them and asks how ascent would be possible. But the group is excessively shy. Dante likens them to sheep that are timid and will only act in concert with others without knowing why. 

One does approach them, but the group notices that Dante is casting a shadow on the wall, which causes them to draw back. 

Virgil then explains that yes, Dante is still human, and not dead yet, but that the group need not be afraid of him and Dante, since they could only be here by Divine will. The leader of the group then signals for Virgil and Dante to enter in before them. 

Then one calls out to Dante and asks if Dante recognizes him? Dante looks but can't place him. He declares he is Manfred (King of Sicily), and asks, since Dante is still alive and will return to the world, to approach Constance, Manfred's daughter and the Queen of Sicily and Aragon, and tell her the truth. 

Manfred then recounts that after being mortally struck in battle, he repented of his gross sins and was saved. The pastor (Archbishop) of Cosenza, (perhaps Tommaso d'Agni), had been sent by Pope Clement IV against him, and if the Archbishop could have recognized the repentance on his dying face, he would have let Manfred's body remain near Benevento, rightly buried, rather than carried outside the kingdom in a procession with the lamps extinguished (the sign of one who was excommunicated) and left exposed. 

Manfred then explains that excommunication doesn't remove one's salvation, as long as there is repentance, but that one who dies under the church's curse, will remain outside the margins of Purgatory thirty times the length of his curse... unless that time is reduced through the prayers of saints still left on earth. So Manfred would like Dante to approach his daughter Constance and ask for her prayers to lessen the time.  

Canto IV  Ante-purgatory: the negligent  This is a confusing and complicated canto, perhaps meant to be so by Dante as analogous to the difficult climb up. It starts off with 12 lines debunking the Platonic theory of three souls. 

Dante explains that when you are so locked in to a subject, you tend to forget everything else, and you even forget time. This would contradict the theory that there are three souls, because when so engrossed, you forget everything else. Therefore the soul must be unified. Ok. 

He mentions this because he himself was so engrossed in listening to Manfred that he lost track of the time and the sun had climbed 50 degrees in the sky. But as they were walking along, the group of excommunicates point out to Virgil and Dante that they have reached the place Virgil asked about: where can they ascend the mountain? Of note is the fact that here, the souls actually help the travelers with no bargaining or strong arming needed. They didn't need to go out of their way, but they do. This is a much different experience than in hell.  

Dante explains, using several difficult to reach Italian sites, that the ascent up this mountain was much harder than that. Dante is of course exhausted, but he is exhorted on by Virgil. As they reach up to a ledge, Dante turns to survey how far they've come. And here, from lines 38-85, Dante goes on a very confusing and complicated explanation of the Sun and various constellations to demonstrate the time.  

As Dante and Virgil are looking to the east, the sun is hitting them on the left side, or, from the north. Which it would only do in the southern hemisphere. Virgil then says that if Castor and Pollix (the twins that make up the Gemini constellation), were with that mirror (the sun) that conducts its light up and down (the sun rises and sets), then Dante could see the ruby Zodiac (the sun with those constellations) veering even closer to the Bears (the constellations Ursa Major and Minor).  

Right now they would be in Aries, but a few months later would be at the summer solstice with Gemini. 

Then Virgil explains that Dante should imagine both Jerusalem and Mount Purgatory on the earth, with their positions related such that they would both have the same exact horizon, and yet be on opposite hemispheres. Clearly this means they're antipodes, on exact opposite sides of the earth. 

Dante responds that he's never had a clearer sense of it than now, and then proceeds to add more "knowledge" to the situation by invoking the medieval concept of the universe as a giant revolving sphere (the celestial movement) which has a circumference mid-way that astronomers call the equator, and the equator always separates summer and winter, moving northward in the southern hemisphere and southward in the northern hemisphere. Well, thanks Dante! 

But moving on from that riveting topic, he asks, like many of us did as children on long road trips, "how much further 'til we get there?" Virgil lets him know that this mountain, unlike most mountains, is hardest at first, and then gets easier, until finally, it'll feel like you're sitting in a canoe moving downstream. And this, Virgil says, he knows fo' sho'.  

At this point, someone says: Maybe you'll have to sit down before you reach that point. Now Virgil and Dante didn't know there was anyone else there, so they look around a rock and notice a group of souls resting in the shade. The picture is of a bunch of lazy, shiftless bums loitering here. So Dante comments that one of them looks like laziness could be his sister. He replies that if Dante is so valiant, then head up the mountain by all means. Dante then says he recognizes him as "Belacqua". There are some guesses as to who Belacqua might be, but others see him as a fictionalized character. Belacqua asks a lazy question and Dante asks him why he is still just sitting here? Is he waiting for someone or just still lazy? Belacqua says it's pointless for him to proceed since he can't enter yet. Apparently, having waited for as long as he could before repenting in life, he now has to wait outside purgatory the same amount of time before he can start his penance. Unless... the prayers of those still covered by grace help him out.  

Virgil has heard enough though and starts back up the mountain because.... the sun has touched the meridian and it's already sunset in Morocco. Yep. Time to get going then.  

Canto V  Ante-purgatory: the late repentant, who died by violence  Dante is moving on, following Virgil, when someone else notices that he is not casting a shadow. Dante apparently stops and is chastised by Virgil for holding up his progress simply because the souls there are noticing this. Virgil tells Dante to be like a strong tower, not swayed by any wind that blows. Virgil says that those who are constantly thinking one thing then another are also swayed by whatever the latest thought is, so that they lose their original goal. Dante takes it to heart and keeps moving. 

But the two travelers meet another group that are singing a hymn called the 'Miserere' verse by verse. 

They too realize he casts no shadow and send two of their rank to inquire. Virgil lets them know that he is indeed still alive, and that Dante may be of some assistance to them. The messengers return and very quickly they all rush forward to see Dante. Virgil tells Dante to talk with them, but do so while he continues on. The group asks him to hold up a little, and they each of their number were killed violently, but repented at the last moments of their lives. They implore Dante to look them over, see if he knows any, and give them some news of the world of the living. Dante says he recognizes no one but swears he will do what he can.  

The first to speak doesn't identify himself, but the details can be traced to Jacopo del Cassero. He asks Dante to have those in his hometown of Fano pray for him that he might purge his many offenses. He tells how he was persecuted by Azzo VIII d'Este, and killed as he fled. He says he was killed in the "bosom of the Antenori", which would be Padova, which, according to the legends, was founded by the Trojan Antenor. 

The second to speak identifies himself as Bonconte of Montefeltro (the family, not the town). He says Giovanna and the others don't care for him, by which he probably means his wife, Giovanna, and a surviving son and daughter, would not be praying for him, so he walks here in Purgatory with his head down. 

Dante asks Buonconte what deliberate force or blind chance pulled him so far from Campaldino that his burial place is unknown? Campaldino was the battlefield where he died, on the plain in Casentino between the towns of Poppi and Bibbiena. 

Buonconte relates that there is river called the Archiano that runs there, with a source above the Hermitage, which is a monastery in the hills. He then says that were the name becomes 'vain' or useless, meaning where the stream joins the Arno, he was stabbed in the throat. Buonconte flees the battle on foot, but bleeding out. He loses his sight and voice, but calling on the name of Mary before he dies, he fell. An angel of God comes to take his eternal soul, but a demon challenges the angel by asking if Buonconte gets to go to heaven for having shed one little tear in his dying moment? But since that is indeed the case, the demon threatens to do something drastic with the dead body. So the demon summons the weather into a storm, then pours down such rain on the valley from Pratomagno, the mountain ridge on the south, to the 'great yoke' (the main ridge of the Apennines), that the valley quickly fills with water and the flash flood overwhelms everything, carrying the dead body down with it, until it is trapped and buried in the debris downstream in the Arno. 

Then a third voice, Pia, asks Dante to remember her after he has returned and rested. She was born in Siena, but apparently murdered by her husband in the Maremma.  

This canto answers a question about the kind of person taken in salvation. If we contrast this with the soldier, Guido da Montefeltro, who had decided to repent of his earlier warrior deeds and life, and take orders as a monk. But he was pulled back into sin by Pope Boniface, who had even promised Guido absolution if he helped him, and tacitly threatened excommunication if he didn't. Guido gives him the evil advice to ensnare the Pope's enemy, and then at death, the demon disputes Guido's soul and argues logically that one can't "repent" and yet willingly choose sin.  

Despite Guido's efforts and the Pope's promises, they held no sway. While in this canto, even if at the last moment, we see the truly repentant are saved.  

Canto VI  Ante-purgatory: the lone soul, Sordello  Dante starts off with a simile about how, after a game of dice, the loser stays behind replaying in his mind how he might have done things differently, while the rest head off with the winner. One guy goes in front of the winner, another claps his arm around him, another tries to get him to the side to ask the winner if he would remember him well. They're all hoping he'll throw a little coin his way. But the winner keeps on his way, listening to all around him... and giving a few coins away so that they'll back off, and in so doing, he keeps the crowd at bay. Well.... in that same way, Dante, having been pressed in by the crowd of the negligent wanting Dante to return to their loved ones and ask them to pray, he makes some promises and then gets free.  

He names a few of those he spoke to, but they won't mean much to us today. But once free, he questions Virgil about something Virgil once wrote: that the prayers of the dead won't change the decrees of God. But if this is true, then the requests of that crowd they just left would be in vain. Or, Dante asks, is he unclear about what Virgil wanted? 

Virgil says that his writing is clear enough, but the requests of these in purgatory are also valid. If one considers it rightly, God's justice in making these wait isn't undone, because the prayers of the living satisfy the requirements demanded by the souls wait. 

Virgil continues that from when he was writing, prayers weren't directed towards the true God, so they could have no such effect. But Virgil also encourages Dante not to let go of such a deep question until Beatrice, who will be a light between truth and intellect, explains it all to him. 

Virgil says that Dante will meet her at the top of Mount Purgatory.  

Upon hearing this bit of knowledge, Dante is ready to go, and notes that they're already burning daylight. Virgil says they'll go as far as they can today, but the fact that they won't get up the entire mountain today is different than what he believes. 

Then Virgil notes a solitary soul in the distance that will show them the way forward.  

This solitary soul seems completely unaffected by the passing of Virgil and Dante until Virgil approaches him and asks him the quickest way up. Apparently, the soul must have recognized Virgil's accent, and asks where he is from. When Virgil mentions Mantua, the soul rises up and exclaims that he too is from Mantua, and hugs Virgil. This love of country stirs Dante to weigh in on the sorry state of Italy.  

It should be mentioned that the sixth canto of each poem is dedicated to politics. In Inferno, Dante discusses Florentine politics, in Purgatorio, he discusses Italian politics, and in Paradiso, it will be 'world' (European) politics.  

He launches off by calling Italy a servant girl, an inn of grief, a ship without a captain, no lady over the nations, but a lady in a brothel. Dante contrasts the patriotism of Sordello with the inhabitants of the cities of Italy, who are always at war, who gnaw away at each other, even those of the same city. 

He charges Italy to search her coasts, and then the interior to see if there is any peace anywhere. 

Then he uses a horse metaphor, asking what the point of Justinian resetting the bit (codifying the ancient Roman law), if the saddle is empty? (there is no leader over the land). Then he says it would have been less shameful if there was no law, since as it is, they have this ancient venerable law, but no one follows it.  

Then he switches to the Church- those who should be devout, and says they should let Caesar sit in the saddle and leave ruling lands to the secular, while the church focuses on the spiritual, as the scripture teaches. 

Then Dante moves to Albert of the Hapsburg family, Holy Roman Emperor, but German, and as such, more concerned with Germany than with Italy, which he has basically ignored. For this, Dante speaks of a just judgment that would come over his family for abandoning their duty towards Italy. 

Dante references several families: the Montecchi and Cappelletti (the famous Montagues and Capulets of Romeo and Juliet); He mentions the Monaldi and Filippeschi parties in Orvieto, and then calls him to come down and see the oppressed state of the nobles, particularly dire is the state of the once prosperous Aldobrandeschi family lands, called Santafiora. 

Dante mentions the sad state of Rome, left alone with no true ruler. He calls the Emperor to come down and see if the sad state of affairs in Italy doesn’t move him to pity, or if nothing else, at least concern for his own name and the shame that lands under his care left undone would engender. 

Dante then questions God to ask if maybe there is some grander plan for a greater good that would arise from this state, something beyond their understanding. 

Then he levels some sarcasm at Florence by saying of course they need not concern themselves with his digression thanks to the efforts of its people. Lots of people know what justice is, but they're afraid to shoot their arrows without getting counsel first... meaning they aren't sure if doing the right thing will get them in trouble. But at least they can state what would be just! 

Other people elsewhere don't want to get involved in politics, but in Florence, they don't even have to be asked, they'll say "Load me up!" 

He tells Florence to be happy because they're rich, live in peace, and have understanding. These are the plain facts. Even the ancient Athenians and Lacedaemons, who first codified laws, and who were so civilized, had nothing on the current Florentines, who apply such refined measures that what they've produced in October has already run out by mid-November!  

How many times have they changed laws, currency, offices, customs and even replaced citizens?? 

If they'd just see the light, they would see they're like the sick lady who could find no rest on her feather bed, but just kept turning over trying to avoid the pain. 

Canto VII  Ante-purgatory: the late repenters- Princes preoccupied with cares of state.  After Dante's diatribe against Italian politics, we return to the narrative. Sordello is so happy to see Virgil that they repeat the happy greetings three or four times. Then Sordello thinks to ask who they even are. Virgil replies that he had lived and died prior to Jesus, in the time of the emperor Octavian, so that even though he wasn't particularly sinful, he had not confessed Jesus as Lord, so he was not allowed entrance to heaven. Sordello is stunned but finally asks how they came there. Virgil mentions that he was moved by heaven to come there, and they've come through all the circles of Hell. Then he asks Sordello to tell him the quickest way to the entrance of Purgatory proper is. 

Sordello says they can't ascend at night, but he would take them to a place where they could rest comfortably until morning. 

Virgil asks about this: you can't ascend during the night. Sordello says you can move around or down, but not up. Virgil asks why this is: are you blocked by someone, or do you just lack the power to do so? Sordello says the darkness itself seems to block the will with inability. 

So they move to a sort of hollowed out spot in the mountain side where a group are hunkered down to spend the night. They are singing the hymn Salve Regina. Dante describes the place being of brilliant colors. When they arrive at a ledge above the group, Sordello asks Virgil and Dante not to request to be among them, but they would be able to note who they were from the ledge. 

Now starts the fun part of identifying the historically (a generation prior to Dante) relevant characters. 

The first pointed out, seated above the others, is one who has the look of a man who has neglected his duty, and who isn't singing along. This is Rudolf I of Germany, who never came to Italy despite it being one of his claimed lands. Dante says he could have healed Italy from the wounds that killed her, but he didn't, and now it's too late for others even to revive Italy. 

There is another comforting him, Ottokar II, King of Bohemia. Dante says that even as a swaddling babe, he was a better person and king that his son Wenceslaus II, when his son was full grown. 

Then Sordello points out a guy with a small nose, Philip III of France, in close counsel with another guy who has a benign look, Henry I of Navarre. Philip "died fleeing and pulling petals from the lily". Philip pulled an ill-advised invasion of Aragon, and was beaten. While withdrawing, dysentery hit his camp, he contracted it, and died. The phrase I translated as 'pulling petals from the lily' is literally 'deflowering the lily' in Italian. But rendering it that way in English sounds like he took some maiden named Lily's virginity. 

Dante goes through a list of other political figures at the time, making mention that justice and moral courage are rarely imparted to subsequent generations. This would have been a smear on the family lines of noble houses. Dante notes that good sense and justice are given by God and God alone. 

Canto VIII  Ante-purgatory: the evening with the late-repentant princes.  Dante and Virgil are at the close of the first day on the mountain of purgatory, and Dante is fading into sleep, when he sees one of the men rise and call the others to listen: then he sings Te lucis ante, the hymn, and the others join in. While they sing, Dante notes two guardian angels descend, dressed in green, with green wings, who come to rest over the edges of the group. Sordello tells the travelers they are there to protect against the serpent, who will soon come. Dante gets a little freaked out by this but Sordello tells them to come down into the midst of the group to speak, for this would be a blessing to them. 

Immediately one of them locks eyes with Dante and it turns out to be Nino Visconti, a patron of Dante's. Nino asks him how long he has been there, and Dante reveals that he was still alive, and had travelled through hell, hoping to learn how to amend his life and be able to gain heaven. At this information, the men draw back and one of them, Corrado Malaspina, is called to come quickly. Corrado asks Dante to please have his daughter Giovanna pray for him, since his wife has remarried and he supposes she no longer cares enough to pray for him. He gives a terzina's worth of invective on the fickleness of women's love, then prophecies that she's going to be sorry for having chosen her current husband, who will come to ruin. Dante looks up and sees three new stars, which symbolize faith, hope, and love. These in turn symbolize Dante's readiness to enter into purgatory proper the next day. 

Sordello then notes the snake has appeared, but the angels quickly chase him away. Corrado Malaspina asks for any news of his family. Dante says that they are world famous and they remain an honorable family. Corrado tells him to go now, but mentions that before seven years are up, Dante will know the Malaspina's hospitality himself, not just through reputation he has heard from others.  

At this the canto ends. 

Canto IX  At the entrance to purgatory  The canto starts off with one of Dante's confusing descriptions of the day, which references the mythological story of Aurora (the Dawn) and her lover Tithonus, and the constellation Scorpio. 

About three hours after nightfall, (around 9pm) Dante is asleep. He dreams of an eagle that circles overhead, but then suddenly swoops down and picks him up, carrying him up high into the atmosphere. 

He awakes, he tells us, just like Achilles, when his mom took him from home, wondering just where the heck he was, when he sees Virgil, who explains that while he was asleep, Saint Lucia came and carried Dante up near the entrance of Purgatory. At this, Dante relaxes, and both he and Virgil head up toward the gateway. There they meet a guardian who tells them to come no further and explain who they are, what they want, and where their escort is. Virgil explains that Lucia set them there and told them to approach, at which the guardian tells them to come forward. They pass over three steps, representing sincerity in confession, contrition, and ardent love. Virgil tells Dante to request that the guardian unlock the door. He does and then throws himself down at the guardian's feet. 

The guardian inscribes 7 P's on his forehead and tells Dante to make sure he washes these from his forehead while inside. The guardian has an ash colored robe, and carries two keys: a golden key which symbolizes absolution, and is more precious, since it can only work through the power of Jesus' blood. The silver key symbolizes the power of the confessor to judge the condition of the penitent, and it requires great skill and understanding to use. The keys were given by Peter, who told the guardian to err more towards letting men in, than excluding men. For it would be better to accept a few who were unworthy, than shut out those that should be let in.  

As Dante and Virgil enter, the guardian warns Dante not to look backward with any longing, or he would be returned outside. 

The canto finishes with a description of the metal doors opening with such a thunderous rumble, but also somehow mixed with the choir of the hymn 'Te Deum laudamus' (We praise you, God). 

Canto X  The first level: pride  The pilgrims enter into purgatory, and are immediately brought through a time-consuming narrow passage that may, if I've understood it correctly, have the mountain actually receding and advancing, requiring some skill to navigate the path. They reach a ledge, that doesn't seem to show any way up, but as they are looking about, Dante notices that the walls are filled with three scenes carved into the white marble. The first was a depiction of the Annunciation of the birth of Christ, showing the angel Gabriel speaking to Mary. The scene is so realistic that Dante says he can practically hear the words "Here is the Lord's handmaiden" as he looks. Dante is transfixed by this scene when Virgil tells him to look  beyond this one scene, since there are others. The second scene depicted is the ark being carried to Jerusalem. The same scene depicts both attempts: the first carrying the ark with the oxen and cart, and the second with David dancing. This is perhaps to show the difference between the presumption to carry the ark in the non-prescribed manner, and then David's self-abasement in his dance during the second attempt. 

Dante again can almost hear the singing and smell the incense in the depictions. 

The third scene depicts Trajan's mercy and duty towards a bereaved widow. Again Dante is moved by what he calls the "visible speech", meaning the depiction is so convincing that he can literally hear the story happening. 

Virgil then points out a group of penitents coming towards them. These are the proud, and they are so stooped over with their heavy stone weights. Dante addresses the Christian reader, asking what it is that we should have to be so proud of, when we are almost no better than maggots, born by mere circumstance. How do we so exalt ourselves, trusting in steps that literally lead us backwards away from God.  

Then he notes that just like when you see a roof support carved in the figure of a man, who has his knee in his chest as if he is shouldering a great weight, you're almost convinced that he is really in pain, even though it's not true. So were these men; bent over to greater or lesser degrees- but even the most patient looked as if he could not take any more. 

Canto XI  The first level: pride cont.  The canto starts with an expanded version of the Lord's prayer recited by the penitents in the first ring. They are praying half for themselves, but in part for those still alive. Dante says they prayed while the moved under the weight of their own pride, while purging the fog of their sinful ways as they went. Dante encourages us that if they pray for us, we should be praying for them. 

Virgil wishes them well and asks for the shortest way up to the next level, since Dante is still alive and climbing is tiresome for him. 

Then Omberto Aldabrandesco answers and tells Virgil and Dante to come along and he would show them the way up. He tells Dante that he is here for his own arrogance for his heritage, and that he died because of his arrogance. He acknowledges the justice of his own punishment. 

Then another man, Oderisi da Gubbio, looks at Dante, who recognizes him as the artist famous for illuminating manuscripts. Oderisi downplays his art as underneath that of Franco Bolognese, who we know next to nothing about. Oderisi says that he would not have been so kind in life, where his fame was the only thing that mattered to him. For that pride, he pays the price here, and in fact, he's only here (rather than in hell) because while he was still alive, he turned to God. 

Then Oderisi launches into a speech about the short duration of human glory. He mentions Cimabue having the world's attention, until Cimabue was displaced by Giotto. Guido Guinizelli was displaced as the supreme Italian poet by Dante's friend Guido Cavalcanti, both of whom would perhaps be displaced by some other poet.... probably Dante suggesting that he himself would overtake them both. 

Dante mentions the passing glory of worldly fame, and then writes that it would make no difference if you lived to old age or died as an infant after a thousand years had passed, and even that thousand years is like the movement of an eyebrow when compared to the movement of the heavenly spheres. 

Oderisi then mentions another in front of him, Provenzan Salvani, who was once the most acclaimed man in Tuscany, and is now barely mentioned.  

Dante notes that these words stir him to humility and 'smooths the great tumor', or deflates his swelling pride. Then he asks about Provenzano. Oderisi answers that he tried to grab all of Siena for himself, (though he was only a private citizen) and for this, he pays the price for one who dared to take so much for himself. Dante then asked how he got there so fast, if the normal path for those that waited to repent is to serve the length of their life in ante-purgatory before entering in. 

Oderisi relates that while at the height of his power and pride, he went to bat for a friend of his who was thrown in prison by Charles of Anjou. Provenzano had stood fast in Siena's main square, effectively humbling himself for his friend. For this, he was granted access earlier. Oderisi also prophesies that Dante himself will be treated to such by his own friends, speaking of Dante's coming exile. 

[thetldrplace]

Inferno: Cantos 29-34

Canto XXIX  Eighth circle, tenth ditch- counterfeiters/falsifiers  Still considering the inhabitants of the ninth ditch, where the sowers of discord were condemned, Dante says his eyes were reeling so much from the huge number and diverse injuries being suffered there, that he wanted to cry. Virgil questions why he would stop and stare, because he didn’t do this at the other ditches, and just think how many there would be if Dante tried to number them all in the 22 mile circumference of the ditch. But the moon was already "under our feet", meaning it was about noon, and there was still much to see in a relatively short time. As they were moving along, Dante tells Virgil that had he paid more attention, Virgil might have allowed him to stay longer, because he had noticed a family member there. Virgil answers that he had in fact noticed him, but not to waste any time thinking about him. He, Virgil, had noticed that this family member- Geri del Bello, was pointing at Dante and making threats, but while Dante was engaged talking to Bertram dal Bornio, he left. 

Dante laments that Geri had been murdered violently, but no one had taken it upon themselves to avenge the death, which would make Geri contemptuous.  

At this point they reach the edge of the tenth ditch. Dante notes that if all the hospitals of Val di Chiana, between July and September, the Maremma, and Sardegna, all places known for malaria, were emptied out and the sick placed together in a pit, it wouldn't be as bad as what he saw in this tenth ditch.  

As they come over the ledge and descend, Dante says the minister of the most high Lord, infallible justice, punishes the falsifiers registered there. 

Anthony Esolen, who did one of the translations I use, writes that these are the quacks, charlatans, imposters, and clever artists of bunk. In life, they needed dupes to prey on. Here they are afflicted with nauseating diseases that cause them to endlessly scratch themselves. 

Then Dante uses another simile and says that if all the people of Aegina (a Greek island, where, according to Greek mythology, pestilence destroyed the people except for one, who prayed to Jupiter, who then transformed the ants into men) who were sick from the pestilence, it wouldn't have matched the gloom seen there in that place. Some were laying on their backs, some on their stomachs, some dragged themselves, crawling along. Dante and Virgil move through watching and listening to the afflicted, who were unable to even lift themselves up. They see two propped up against each other, and while there, they scratch so furiously at their insatiable itches, that their bodies are covered with nasty, spotted scabs, which they scrape through with their fingernails.  

Virgil asks if there are any Italians (Latins) among them, and they stop and proclaim that they themselves are Italians. Virgil then encourages Dante to ask them whatever he wants. Dante starts off saying that if they would like their memory to survive in the world, reveal who they are despite their vulgar and tedious pain.  

The first (Griffolino) says he was from Arezzo. He says he was burned at the stake by Albero of Siena, but what he was killed for is not what he is in the tenth ditch for. He had told Albero that he could fly, as a joke, and Albero, having lots of desire to fly and little in the way of common sense, tries to get him to show him how. But Griffolino knows it can't be done and Albero is pissed about it, and had him tried for heresy, for which he was condemned. But Minos, who can't be wrong in his assessments of the sin, damned him for alchemy. 

Dante then says: "or fu già mai gente sì vana come la sanese? Certo non la francesca sì d'assai!". Meaning: Were there ever a people so vain/empty as the Sienese? Certainly not the French so much!" 

I think the idea of vain is both in arrogance and empty headed, so I translated it 'stupid'. 

Then another guy, understanding Dante, pops in with "Except: 

Stricca (unsure who this is), who knew how to temper his expenses; 

Niccolò (Salimbeni), who extravagantly used cloves, a very expensive spice, for his food. Salimbeni was one of the members of the Squanderer's Brigade; 

Caccia d'Ascian, another of the brigade who squandered vineyards and a huge estate; 

L'Abbagliante (The Dazzling One), Bartolomeo dei Folcacchieri, of whom we know little, other than he was fined for drunkenness in a tavern in 1278. 

These four are the exceptions to the general rule of the Sienese being the vainest (stupidest) people. 

Then the speaker identifies himself as Capocchio, who faked metals through alchemy. Capocchio was burned at the stake for heresy by the Sienese in 1293, so he had a good reason to hate 'em too. 

While in life, these Sienese preyed on their foolish fellows, they probably wish now the Sienese had not been quite so foolish to have fallen for their quackery, now abundantly punished. 

Canto XXX  Eighth circle, tenth ditch- counterfeiters/falsifiers ; cont.  Dante leads again with several similes. The first tells of when the goddess Juno (wife and sister of Jupiter) was jealous and angry with Semele, a princess of Thebes, and one of Jupiter's lovers. She caused King Athamas' consort, Ino, Semele's sister, to go insane. In his insanity, he kills his son Learco by dashing him against a rock. When Ino sees this, she jumps off a cliff into the sea while holding the other son.  

The second is after the destruction of Troy, Hecuba, the widowed queen is taken captive. Her daughter Polyxena is sacrificed on the tomb of Achilles, and then as she wanders to the seashore, she finds her son Polydorus washed up, having been murdered by the king of Thrace. She then goes crazy and begins to bark and howl like a dog. 

But Dante says that the furies, neither in Thebes, nor Troy, were ever so cruel as two he saw racing around the tenth ditch, biting whatever they could reach, like a pig let loose from the pig stye. 

One reached Capocchio, and bit into the back of his neck, dragging him away and scrapping his stomach along the hard ground. 

Dante asks who these two were, and he is told by Griffolino that the first is Gianni Schicchi. Schicchi was from the Cavalcanti family in Florence. When Buoso Donati had died, his nephew Simone persuaded Gianni Schicchi to impersonate the old man on his death bed, dictating a will to the benefit of Simone. Gianni's take was a prized mare from the Donati's stable. 

Dante is told the second is Myrrah, (From Ovid's Metamorphoses) a legendary Levantine beauty who fell in love with her father and tricked him into sexual intercourse by disguising herself.  

At this point, the two enraged spirits take off, so Dante looks around and sees another one, who is described as being in the shape of a lute- meaning fat, but skinnier as it goes towards the head... or at least he would look like a lute if that part of the human body that forks- the legs- were cut off. The spirit here looks like one who suffers from dropsy, or edema; the disease where fluid builds up in the body and distorts it. 

The tenth ditch holds four different types of falsifiers, each with different types of affliction:  

The alchemists in the previous canto were punished with itching scabs; the impersonators here with hydrophobia, the counterfeiters with dropsy, and the perjurers with fever. 

Master Adamo sees Dante and Virgil traveling along and tells them, who travel through this wretched level without punishment, to listen to his story. He relates that while alive, he had whatever he wanted, but here, he is so parched that he longs for even a drop of water. Part of his punishment is that he can't escape the image of the cool waters of his native Florence, which dries him up even more. 

He was in the employ of the Count of Romena, when they convinced him to counterfeit Florins by degrading the Florin from 24 carat to 21 carat gold. Thus he "falsified the alloy sealed by the Baptist"; John the Baptist was adopted as a symbol of the city of Florence, and was burned at the stake for this in 1281. 

He says he would give up a look at the Branda fountain, a famous spring in Siena that would certainly quench his thirst, if he could only see Guido, Alessandro, or any of their brothers, here in hell with him. And, if he could trust anyone of the raving lunatics in the ditch, one of them is in fact already there. But what would it be worth to him, since he can't move? He swears that if he could crawl even an inch in a hundred years, he'd already have set out to look for the guy among the disgusting mass, despite the entire ditch being eleven miles long, and at least half a mile across. It was because of those brothers that he has now become part of the "family" stuck together in the tenth ditch.  

Dante then asks who the two souls are who are steaming next to him, as if they were wet hands in winter. 

Adamo says they were here when he first rained down and they haven't ever moved, nor does he think they ever will. One is Potipher's wife, who falsely accused Joseph, and the other was Sinon, from Troy. They burn from a high fever which gives off a nasty steaming stench. 

Then Sinon gets pissed that he is being so darkly named, punches Adamo in the stomach, which sounds like a drum. This starts an amusing back and forth- an example of "tenzone", where dueling poets would respond to each other leading off with something from what the other previously said. Dante, our poet supreme, has to show himself capable in all poetry's various formats, I guess. 

Adamo responds by punching Sinon in the face, and telling him: even if movement has been taken away from me since I weigh so much, I still have an arm available for such tasks. 

Sinon says: your arms weren't so available when you were sent to the stake to burn, but it seems they were pretty available for counterfeiting coins. 

Adamo says: You spoke the truth there. Too bad you didn't tell the truth when the Trojans requested it. (Sinon was part of a conspiracy by Ulysses with the Trojan horse, to infiltrate the city. Sinon lets himself be captured, then advises the Trojans to take the horse in, the Trojans accepting his advice because Sinon has lied that Ulysses would sacrifice him to the gods in order to win the war.) 

Sinon replies: Sure I lied, and you counterfeited money. I'm here for one sin, while you've outdone ever demon in hell. 

Adamo: Hey perjurer, remember the horse and be pained that the whole world knows about your sin! 

Sinon: and you be pained that thirst dries out and cracks your tongue and rotten liquid puddles in your guts right before your eyes! 

Adamo: I hope your mouth is ripped to shreds by your disease, so that, if I'm thirsty and bloated, you'll have a burning thirst and your head aches and it would take only a few words for you to be jump at the chance to lick the pond of Narcissus! 

While I've not gotten to Purgatorio in Italian yet, I've heard that this theme of Narcissus will come up again there, which would seem to say that this is a more important element than you'd be led to believe by the reference here. 

Dante says he was so engrossed listening to them when all of the sudden Virgil angrily butts in and says: Keep watching this and before long I'll be in a fight with YOU! 

At this, Dante is so ashamed of himself that even now, it makes his head spin just to think about it. He gives another simile: you know when your dreaming, and you dream of something bad happening to you, so you think, 'I hope this is all just a dream'…. So that you wish it wasn't what was happening... well, in the same way, Dante says he wanted to apologize, and he did, but it didn't seem like enough. But Virgil tells him "Less repentance has washed away even greater sins than yours, so let it go. But.... if it happens that fate puts you again where two people are arguing the same way, know that desiring to listen to that is a base desire. 

Canto XXXI  Eighth Circle- edge of Ninth Circle  Dante leads off with two terzinas letting us know "The same tongue that first bit me, so that both my cheeks reddened in shame"; speaking of Virgil chewing him out for being so engrossed in the base insults in the last canto; "….then applied medicine to me; as I had heard the spear of Achilles and his father would be the cause first, of pain, and then, healing". Apparently, the "lance of Achilles" was supposed to have the property of being able to heal, with a second touch, the wound it had caused with the first. So Dante uses it as a simile for the way Virgil had at first wounded him, then healed him with words of encouragement. 

So they are up out of the tenth ditch and it looks like something neither day nor night, but with a thick dark air that Dante can't really see through. He hears a loud blast from a horn though, which he follows back, since it seems like it came from behind him. He gives another simile that Roland, from the French epic poem "Le Chanson de Roland", who blew his horn so hard that his veins burst and he died, did not blow his horn so terribly at the rout suffered by Charles the Great in his holy war to defeat the Saracens. 

Then Dante begins to see a bunch of tall towers, but when he asks Virgil what land this is, Virgil tells him he is getting too far ahead of himself with his imagination, and that he would soon see how the distance tricks the senses. Then Virgil decides to forewarn Dante that these aren't, in fact, towers at all, but giants, who are stuck from the waist down in the ground. 

Dante mentions that the giants buried remind him of the Montereggioni fortress in the province of Siena, which is encircled by a high wall with a 'crown' of towers surrounding it. 

Dante says of them that Nature did well to quit making such living beings, or else they might have been drafted by Mars, the god of war, for his purposes. Then he notes that while Nature didn't turn from making large creatures, like elephants and whales, but did so much more discreetly with those than the titans, since when one adds reason of the mind to ill will AND power, humans would find no safe haven. 

Dante then says the head of the giant they had come upon was about the size of the pine cone at Saint Peters in Rome, which, I humbly add, I've been to see, and is about 13 feet tall. The bones of the giant, were in proportion to the head. I translated it as the limbs of the giant. The giants were buried up to the waist, and the poem mentions, somewhat cryptically, that three "Frisians" could not have lived up to the task had they boasted about being able to reach it. So apparently the frisians were known as being among the tallest men in Europe. So if they were to stand end to end, they still wouldn't have quite reached to the hairline. Dante says it was around 'thirty large palms", which one commentary estimated would be around 22 feet tall. Add the 13 feet of the head and you have around 35 feet tall... and that's only half of the giant. So maybe 70 feet tall in total.  

The giant turns out to be the biblical hunter Nimrod, who founded the country of 'Shinar', where the tower of Babel was built. 

Nimrod blurts out some gibberish- “Raphèl maì amècche zabì almi”, that sort of sounds vaguely Hebrew, but isn't. Apparently lots of people through the ages have tried to make some sense of this, but the text below would make it clear that it isn't meant to be understood by us. Virgil says outright that no one can understand Nimrod's language and Nimrod can't understand any other, so no time should be wasted in trying to communicate with him.  

They move on and meet another giant, Ephialtes, one of the titans. Dante wants to meet the "immeasurable" Briareus, but Virgil says he's too far away. But, they are going to Antaeus, who can speak and is unchained. Ephialtes shakes himself at that point and the ground shakes stronger than any earthquake Dante could remember, which causes Dante to fear for his life, with only the chains that bind Ephialtes keeping Dante from complete dread. 

Virgil and Dante then approach Antaeus, and Virgil tells him to set them both down onto the floor of the ninth circle, with the incentive that Dante is still alive, and can tell of Antaeus when he returns to the land of the living. Then he tells Antaeus not to make them seek out Tityus or Typhon. At this, Antaeus extends his hand for Virgil, who holds Dante so tight that they are bound together. 

Dante gives another simile for what it felt like when Antaeus was reaching over him: Like one standing under the leaning side of Garisenda tower (in Bologna), and a cloud passes over it, it gives the impression of the tower actually leaning over you, and so Dante felt like this, and wished that there were some other way down, but it was all over quickly and Antaeus set them down on the bottom, where we are told Lucifer and Judas are devoured. 

Canto XXXII  Ninth Circle- Caino; traitors- betrayers of kin  Dante again leads off with a disclaimer that he doesn't really have the ability to describe what is seen in this level. He says it's not something to be taken lightly when trying to describe the "fondo", the bottom, or what I called the basement, of the universe, nor is it fit for children, those who would call out for mommy or daddy.  

As Dante is looking up at the high wall surrounding the pit, he hears someone say: watch where you step: tread so that you don't kick the heads of these tired, miserable brothers with your soles. Dante then looks down and sees spirits buried up to their heads in ice so clear it looks more like glass than water. He says that even on the Danube in Austria during winter, nor on the Don river (in Russia) under the frozen sky would have such thick ice as was here. He mentions that if mount Tambernic (possibly a mountain in Slovenia) and mount Pietrapan (in Tuscany) had both fallen on this ice, it wouldn't have made even the edge creak. Basically.... really thick ice. Ok.  

Then Dante gives a simile: like frogs, when they croak with just their noses out of the water, in that season of the year when the peasant girls dream of gleaning (summer), so in this same way, the agonized spirits were there in the ice, up to where their shame appears (the face), "putting the teeth in note of stork"… is how it reads literally, but it means chattering like a storks bill would. Each of them had their faces downward, and the testimony to the cold was given by their mouths , with the chattering teeth, and testimony to their sad hearts was given by their eyes. 

Dante looks down and sees two spirits so tightly pressed against each other that their hair mixed together. He asks who they are and one responds, "why are you staring so hard at us?". This one, we find a bit later, is Camiscion de' Pazzi. The two he asks about are Napoleone (a Guelph) and Alessandro (a Ghibelline) degli Alberti, counts of Mangona.  

Camiscion says they came out of one body, in other words, they were born of the same mother, and you could search all of Caino and not find anyone more worthy of being set in this 'gelatin', a euphemism for the ice. Caino is the name of the region they are in, and it's for those that betrayed family, named for the biblical Cain, who killed his brother Abel in a fit of anger of God's rejection of his sacrifice.  

When Camiscion mentions that Dante could find no one more worthy of imprisonment there, he also adds others that are there: 

He whose chest and shadow were broken by one stroke from Arthur's hand- Mordred; 

Focaccia- nickname of Vanni de' Cancellieri, a white Guelph from Pistoia, who killed one of his own family; 

Sassol Mascheroni- the one who blocks Camiscion's view from seeing any further- a Florentine who murdered his cousin to gain an inheritance. 

Camiscion himself murdered his in-law, Ubertino de' Pazzi to gain control of several fortresses. 

He says he is still awaiting Carlino, 'che mi scagioni'… the verb scagionare means to demonstrate that someone is not culpable for what he has been blamed. But clearly, Camiscion IS guilty, or else God wouldn't have put him in the lowest region of hell. What Camiscion seems to mean here is that Carlino's guilt is so much more, that Camiscion would look like an innocent in comparison.  

Dante then looks around and sees a thousand more of the faces looking dog like because of the cold. He says it brought a shudder on him, and even today, seeing a frozen body of water brings the same reaction.  

As the continued traveling towards the center where every heaviness is gathered, Dante shivers in the eternal shadowy chill. 

Ninth Circle- Antenora- betrayers of country  Then Dante meets the second person he talks with. Dante leaves it undefined whether this was on purpose or not, because he says he doesn't know whether it was "will, fortune, or destiny" that he should have gotten a good kick in on this guy. The guy himself responds testily, which, I suppose I would too if kicked in the head, with "what'd you kick me for? Unless you've come to increase the revenge for what I did at Montaperti, why harass me?" So this is Bocca degli Abati, who betrayed the Guelphs during the battle at Montaperti. He pretended to be a Guelph, but in a crucial moment, chopped off the arm of the standard bearer, so that the standard fell, which led to chaos on the Guelph side and ended in a rout by the Ghibellines. 

Dante asks Virgil to hold up a moment so Dante can clear up some questions he has, then he interrupts Bocca's swearing to ask who he is that rebukes others in this way? 

Bocca responds with: "who are YOU who goes through Antenora (the section of the betrayers of country) kicking others in the face, which, even if he were alive, would be exaggerated?" 

Dante says he IS alive, and if Bocca wants to be recognized in what Dante would write, he would do well to name himself. Bocca says he wants the exact opposite, so get out and don't give him any more sass, 'cause he (Dante) has no idea how to flatter people at this level. 

Dante has had enough and grabs a hunk of Bocca's hair, and threatens him with: you'd best tell me what I want to know or I'll rip your hair out! Bocca says to go ahead, even if you rip all his hair out, he's not gonna give Dante his name, or anything else of use.  

At this point, Dante starts tearing chunks of hair out and Bocca howls in pain. 

So a neighbor screams: "What the hell, Bocca? Isn't it enough that you've been yapping your jaws, and now you're gonna howl too? What the devil has gotten into you? 

The guy, Buoso da Duera, gives up Bocca's name to Dante, so Dante leaves off ripping out more hair and swears he'll tell the story of Bocca's disgrace up in the world. 

At this, Bocca gives up the other guy, by saying, Fine, write whatever you want, but when you do get out of here, don't forget to mention Buoso da Duera, here because he sold out the Ghibellines, when he was commissioned to raise an army to oppose Charles of Anjou, but instead, took the money and let the French pass through.  

Then Bocca gives up a few more names: Tesauro dei Beccheria, who was beheaded for working to return exiles to Florence; 

Gianni de' Soldanier, a Florentine Ghibelline who defected to the Guelphs; 

Ganelon was the traitor who plotted with the Saracens to have Roland ambushed at Roncesvalles; 

Tebaldello Zambrasi, a Ghibelline who turned traitor to Faenza because it's leaders had played a prank on him, so he opened the gates at night to allow Bolognese Guelphs to enter. 

Dante and Virgil move on and see two spirits sunk together so that one was gnawing on the other's head, possibly referencing the Bible where it says the leaders "devour my people as they eat bread" (Psalms 14:4) Dante stops to ask him why he would do such a bestial thing, promising that if the shade can convince him of a good cause for it, he would write it. 

Here the canto ends. 

Canto XXXIII  Ninth Circle- Antenora- betrayers of country: cont.  The guy we had been introduced to at the end of the last canto, who was gnawing on someone else's head, stops what he is doing in response to Dante's question, and takes time to tell his tale. The only reason he agrees to it is "if my words will be the seed that bears the fruit of infamy to this traitor I gnaw". He announces himself as Count Ugolina della Gherardesca, and his victim is Ruggieri degli Ubaldini, the Archbishop of Pisa. Ghibelline Pisa was besieged by several powerful Guelph cities, and chose the Guelph Ugolino as their leader, hoping he could secure a peace. He ceded several of Pisa's castles to the Guelphs, maybe from diplomatic prudence or necessity, when he was challenged by his Grandson Nino Visconti. Eventually, the two came to a truce, and Ugolino tried to shore his political power up by striking a deal with the Archbishop, and three families: the Gualandi, Sismondi, and Lanfranchi. They expelled Nino, and Ugolino retired to the country to wait for Nino's banishment. 

Ruggieri was made the leader, and recalled Ugolino, but when Ugolino noted his own treachery had put Ruggieri on the throne, he came with an army, was defeated, and subsequently imprisoned, where we pick up his story. 

He says he was imprisoned in the Muda. Muda means 'moult'... like when birds lose feathers, probably because it was high up and that's where the birds would go.  

Ugolino has a dream where the Archbishop appeared as master and lord, and hunted the wolf and it's cubs (he and his family) into the hills between Pisa and Lucca. "With lean, trained, and eager dogs, the Gualandi, Sismondi, and Lanfranchi families, Ruggieri set himself at the head of the hunt. In short time, the father wolf and his cubs were exhausted, caught, and torn to shreds. 

Ugolino awakes in prison, aware that the dream was an insight into his own plight. He was locked in the tower with his 4 sons until they one by one starved. After they were dead, Ugolino says he ate them to stay alive. Ugolino's details makes it sound like they were little children, but clearly, they had to have been grown, since he had a grandson, for which his betrayal for political purposes has landed him down here in hell.  

This telling of the story effectively met Dante's parameters for mention in the divine comedy, so he includes the story, not with sympathy for Ugolino, but for his sons, who had not deserved the punishment as did the father. 

Dante writes an invective against Pisa by calling the town a vile disgrace to the people of the beautiful land where "Si" is uttered. By this he means Italy, not Pisa and its surroundings... because he immediately says that since Pisa's neighbors would do nothing against their vile behavior, he wished the islands of Capraia and Gorgona, two islands a bit off the coast, would move, stop up the mouth of the Arno river, which runs through Pisa, and drown the entire region.  

Ninth Circle- Ptolomea- betrayers of guests/friends  In the first section, Caina, those imprisoned in the ice look down. In the second, Antenora, they look forward. In this section, they face up, which causes their tears to flood their eye sockets and freeze over, forming a hardened glass visor over their eyes. Dante also notices a wind, which he can't understand where it would come from. Virgil tells him he'll see the cause soon enough. 

One cries out asking Dante to break the frozen tears from his eyes temporarily and he would tell his tale. Dante promises him that he'll do so, and if not, he would go to the bottom.  Dante is, of course, playing a trick on the him, since he has no intention of granting this guy any favors. The trick is that the guy thinks Dante is promising he'll allow himself to be sentenced to an even worse punishment if he doesn't grant his wish, while Dante knows he is traveling to the lowest level as a temporary visitor anyway, so he can accurately state that he'll go to the bottom if he doesn't do what he promised, with no actual harm to himself. Fitting for someone who is in hell for betrayal.  

The soul says he is Frate Alberigo, who "gave fruit in that cursed garden, so that here, I get a date for a fig." He was a Guelph of Faenza, who had invited several relatives, with whom he had carried a bitter feud, to dinner. He called for fruit to brought out, which was the signal for assassins to come in and murder the guests. Getting "a date for a fig" has been interpreted as, since dates where more expensive than figs, he was getting back more than he paid out; or receiving a worse punishment than what he used against others. 

One of the video series I watched on the Comedy is by an Italian who says this betrayal was so famous in Italy, that it spawned a saying: ricevere "il frutto di Frate Alberigo", to get 'the fruit of Fra Alberigo', which meant- I've been betrayed. 

The interesting part of the discussion is that after this, Dante says, wait, you're already dead? To which Alberigo says he doesn't know what is happening with his body up in the world, since for those in Ptolomea, the soul falls here "innanzi Atropòs mossa la dea"; "before Atropos (the mythological Fate who cuts the threads of individual human's lives) sets it (the soul) in motion"… so before the person dies. He explains that as soon as the betrayal takes place, the soul is sent to hell, and a demon takes over the body, governing things as if the man were still alive, until the body dies. He mentions another such soul nearby, Branca Doria, whose soul had already been down in hell for many years.  

Dante says he doesn't believe this, at which point Alberigo references the shade in the ditch where the Malebranche demons tortured them in boiling tar, Michele Zanche, and says that this one here, Branca Doria, had him killed and left a demon in his body. Then Alberigo tells Dante to fulfill his part of the bargain and clear the hardened tears from his eyes. But Dante betrays him in a just recompense calling it a courtesy to Alberigo to act the villain towards him. 

Then he inveighs against Genova, calling them alien to every morality and full of every defect, and wondering why they hadn't just been scattered over the earth, rather than being allowed to congregate in one place. He continues that he found a Genovese, Doria, who had already been sent to hell to be locked in the icy Cocytus river, and yet his body is inhabited above by a demon. 

Here the canto ends. 

Canto XXXIV  Ninth Circle- Judecca- betrayers of benefactors  Virgil declares the standards of hell are advancing towards them, to start the canto. At this point, Dante can make out what seem, from the distance, to be structures like windmills, and, because there is no other shelter there, shields himself from the cold wind by hiding behind Virgil. Here the condemned souls are buried completely in ice: some lying down, others erect, both head up, and head down, and others bent over like a bow.  

Virgil stops Dante to tell him that they have reached the center, Dis.  

Dante says, again, that he doesn't have the words to really render the scene. He was somewhere between dead and alive as he came upon Satan. Satan is sticking out of the ice from his chest. He is so huge, that Dante was closer to the giants, who were around 70 feet tall, than the giants would be to Satan. Satan is brutally ugly now, with three faces: the front is red, the right is yellowish white, and the left is black. Below each face is a set of wings that flap, creating the wind that freezes the ninth circle.  

Each mouth contains a sinner: Judas Iscariot is the prime, who is chewed head first, and has his skin scraped bare. The others are Brutus and Cassius. 

Then, as quickly as that, Virgil says: Well, we've seen everything so let's get out of here. Dante holds on to Virgil's neck, Virgil climbs onto Satan's hairy side, and starts making his way down Satan's body, until at one point, he turns and then seems to start climbing again. He's exhausted, so as they go up, he pushes Dante through an opening in the rock onto a ledge, then climbs up and sits down next to him for second.  

Dante looks and, expecting to see Lucifer as he had, is disconcerted to find that what he sees is a pair of huge legs sticking up in the air. Virgil tells him to get up 'cause they have a long road ahead. Dante stops him and asks him to clear up some confusion. He asks what happened to the ice, why they are now looking at Satan's legs, and why it went from evening to morning? Virgil tells him they've passed to the other side of the center of the earth. So now, they're standing on the other side of the small sphere that makes up Judecca, and under the land, including the particular hill, where Jesus was crucified.  

Then he gives a somewhat confusing account of how Satan was tossed from heaven on the opposite, or southern, hemisphere, causing the land that used to stick up on the southern hemisphere, to cave in and be filled with water, and the same land to be displaced higher in the northern hemisphere, creating the land there. 

Within this cavern system created by Satan's downfall, a stream has made a whole in the rock, with a relatively gentle slope. The cavern is unlit, but they can trace the stream by its sound. They make their way up without resting and exit to see the stars once again, and here the canto... and first poem, end. 

[thetldrplace]

Inferno: Cantos 22-28

Canto XXII  Still in the eighth circle, fifth ditch, which contains the bribe-takers, the pair set off accompanied by the ten demons. Dante says he has seen all kinds of military actions, and their calls, but never anything like this. Dante is fixed on searching the tar to see every kind of person he can, but as the demons approach, each sinner dives underneath so that won't be gaffed. One missed his opportunity though and gets caught. Dante asks Virgil to find out who he is, so Virgil engages him. The man says he was from the kingdom of Navarre, which is in present-day northern Spain, right next to the Basque region. The sinner (traditionally seen as Ciampolo) explains that his mother got pregnant by a rogue, so she sent him off to work as a servant to the king, Thibault. The demons tire of delaying the torture while Virgil questions him and begin to get impatient. They warn Virgil to hurry it up before they tear him apart. Virgil asks if there are any Latins, (Italians) there in the pit. The sinner says yes, and he wishes he were still down there covered up. Then the demons rip some meat off of him. After that, the demons calm a bit, and Virgil continues, asking who the other was that got away while he, Ciampolo, was caught on shore? Ciampolo says that was Friar Gomito, from Gallura, a region in the far north of Sardegna, who was exceptionally corrupt. He had several of his master's (Nino Visconti) enemies in hand, but for bribes, let them off for nothing. The Italian says di piano, meaning "softly", but apparently it comes from the Latin de plano, a legal term meaning "for nothing". He mentions that Gomito had other duties too but there too he was no small-time bribe taker, but the king of bribe takers. 

Then he mentions another Sardinian, Michel Zanche, of Logodoro (region just to the south of Gallura), and between the two of them, they can't stop talking about how great Sardegna is. 

Finally, Ciampolo mentions that the demons are baring their teeth at him and he was about to get it. He offers to call up seven others in his place if they would let him go. One of the demons says "Listen to this malice this guy is proposing... but he's doing it just to buy time and try to escape. To which Ciampolo replies: I am that malicious, if I'm willing to bring greater pain to my fellow sufferers. But one of the other demons says he is interested, hoping to get more sinners to rip apart. He says he will let Ciampolo whistle and they will wait up top in hiding while they come up. They are working out the details of how this will happen when Ciampolo notices they aren't watching him, he takes his chance and dives back under the pitch where they can't see him. 

Alichin, the demon who had proposed letting Ciampolo exchange himself for seven others, tries to stop him from escaping, but can't get there in time and pulls up. But Calcabrina, one of the other devils, pissed by being taken in, follows after Alichin and sinks his claws into his compatriot demon. Alichin however, is also a predatory creature and they get into a fight that drags them both into the pitch. The heat makes them let go of each other, but the tar covering their wings means they can't get out alone. The others quickly assemble to get them out, but the demons were already, we are told, cooked inside the crust that had formed on them.  

While this is happening and the demons are distracted, Virgil and Dante leave and head off on their own. 

Canto XXIII  Still in the eighth circle, fifth ditch, Dante and Virgil have left the bickering demons and taken off by themselves, without saying anything to the demons. Dante gives a simile that had me scratching my head. He mentions Aesop's fable of the frog and the mouse. The fable is essentially that a mouse comes to a stream he can't get across. A frog offers to take him across with the intent of drowning the mouse halfway across. But while the mouse is struggling, a bird comes and grabs them both. OK, with that in mind, Dante says this: 

Vòlt’era in su la favola d’Isopo  lo mio pensier per la presente rissa,  dov’el parlò de la rana e del topo;  ché più non si pareggia ’mo’ e ’issa’  che l’un con l’altro fa, se ben s’accoppia  principio e fine con la mente fissa.  This recent scene turned my thoughts   to Aesop’s fable, where it talks about  the frog and the mouse;  the words ‘now’ and ‘presently’ are not so similar   as the one with the other, if we put together   beginning and end with an attentive mind. 

This is supposed to bring some clarity, but it sort of does the opposite. First, at least for me, was the confusion over "the one with the other". But after looking at this enough, and confirming with a bunch of translations, it seems it should be read as: 

"the words ‘now’ and ‘presently’ are not so similar   as that fable and the demon’s brawl, " 

The italian uses two words 'mo' and 'issa' that both mean 'now', to say that not even these two words that mean the same thing are not as similar as the fable to the demon's brawl he witnessed in the previous canto.......  

"if we put together beginning and end with an attentive mind." 

Here's where some of the fun starts. The fable has several different interpretations, none of which anyone is sure about which Dante is referring to. We're encouraged to put together the beginning and the end "with an attentive mind"…. But that hasn't helped scholars through the years figure out what he means. So... I'm gonna ignore it too. 

But as Dante is thinking, he is becoming more certain that those demons will be pissed and coming after he and Virgil shortly. He finally confesses this to Virgil and suggests they ought be hiding. Then... Virgil pops off with another difficult simile: 

In Italian, it reads: 

E quei: «S’i’ fossi di piombato vetro,  l’imagine di fuor tua non trarrei  più tosto a me, che quella dentro ’mpetro 

That literally reads: 

If I were lf leaded glass,  The image of your exterior I couldn't take  More quickly to me, than what inside I fathom 

Trying to render that into something that makes sense to me, I came up with: 

“If I were a leaded glass mirror,  I couldn’t grasp what your physical form   communicates quicker than the inner implores. 

I feel like what this means is: even if I were a mirror, I couldn't have caught your physical reflection any faster than I understood what you were thinking. 

Anyway... apparently, they're both on the same page as far as understanding the impending danger of hanging around much longer. And just then, the travelers see the demons coming for them. 

Virgil grabs Dante, holds him to his stomach, and jumps down the embankment, to that he is protecting Dante while he slides down on his bank to the next ditch. The demons get there a moment too late, and can only watch as they see Virgil and Dante, but are unable to cross the boundary into the next ditch. 

Eighth circle- sixth ditch, which holds the hypocrites. 

In this circle, Dante sees people who look like they are painted. They wear capes made of a blinding shiny gold on the outside, but the capes are heavy lead on the interior. They are so heavy that the sinners can proceed only very slowly. Dante mentions that with every step he and Virgil took, they were alongside new sinners. 

Dante asks Virgil to find some sinner he can talk with, whose name or deeds are known to him. One hears him speaking Tuscan and says that he can answer any questions. When Dante slows up, the man and his friend are taken aback by the fact that Dante is still living. They wonder how he can be down there with no heavy mantle like they carry. They then ask who he is. He tells them he is Tuscan, and asks what they have done to merit such punishment. They were two members of the Frati Godenti, Jolly Friars, who, by rule of their order, were forbidden office. But they were invited to rule the divided Florence. Catalano was a Guelph, Loderingo was Ghibelline. They initially helped, but it turns out, they were being orchestrated by a pope, who was moving them to bring back Guelph families and exile Ghibelline. Dante begins to heartily condemn these men when another sight catches his eyes: a man crucified to the ground with three stakes. Catalano notes Dante looking at the guy and explains that he is the one who counseled the Pharisees that it would be better for one man to die for the people, than for the people to catch trouble from Rome. So this would be Caiaphas. It is noted that his father-in-law and the others that followed his counsel, which brought such evil for the Jews, are also here. 

Virgil breaks in and asks where they might get out of this ditch. The friar says it's actually pretty close by. There was once a bridge that arched over each of the ditches, but it broke in this place. However, the ruins that fell into the bottom, could be climbed up on to get over the ridge. At this, Virgil realizes he had been duped by Malacoda, who had not told him the truth, and he says this out loud. The friar then responds in a kind of smart-assed way that he once heard at school that the devil has lots of vices, among which are that he is a liar and the father of lies.  

Virgil takes off and Dante follows after him. 

Canto XXIV  Eighth circle, seventh ditch- thieves. 

Again, Dante is on with the star signs etc to declare something about the time of year.  

"In that early part of the year when the sun's rays are tempered under Aquarius (Jan 20 – Feb 18) and night lasts about half the day" (length of day and night are about equal) 

Then he gives an extended bit on the time of year: 

"when the hoarfrost on the ground looks like her white sister (the snow), except her quills aren't so long," then he goes on about a peasant with no fodder around, getting up and seeing the countryside and thinking- well crap, it's all snowed in. He beats his thighs, (presumably to help keep warm?) then goes back in and grumbles. But after a while of being at a loss, he thinks again, goes outside, and then noticing it wasn't actually snow, it was only frost, and has perhaps melted away, he takes heart, and leads his flock out to pasture. 

THIS, he uses as a description of himself, after seeing Virgil's face, being bummed about the climb ahead to get out of the sixth ditch, where the bridge had collapsed in a heap (or maybe because of how he had been treated by the demons... unsure why Virgil appeared upset). Because even though the bridge had collapsed, and there was a pile of rubble that could be climbed to get out of it, it was apparently no easy climb, so Virgil's first instinct was to be troubled. Then Virgil changed his tune, scouted the way up, and set to climbing. He lifts Dante up and then they start working their way up the ruins of the fallen bridge. Dante notes that landscape of Malebolge here. Because the site tilts down towards the center, the inner ledge of each ditch is shorter than the outer ledge. Dante notes that except for this fact, he probably wouldn't have been able to make it up the side. He was so drained that he could only sit down once they had gained the top. But here Virgil tells him he needs to shake off this need to sit down and get going, since fame doesn't come to those sitting in comfy chairs or lying under covers. He will need to conquer his exhausted body with that spirit that can overcome all.  

Just a note about this: Virgil encourages Dante to get moving.... with earthly fame as the motivator. Earthly fame, under the Christian understanding, is a sinful motivator, but of course, Virgil isn't a Christian. Interestingly enough, in his simile, he makes the comparison that without earthly fame, a man's life would be remembered no more than smoke in the air or foam on the water. But this is meaningless in a context of heaven and hell. Jesus points it out: what would it profit a man if he should gain the whole world, but lose his own soul? Our earthly efforts aren't to be about gaining treasures on earth, and this would include fame, not as a physical good, but nonetheless an earthly good, for the prize is to be known on earth. Instead, we are to seek God, who will bring us into heaven not for our glory, but for His. 

Dante mentions that the bridge over the seventh ditch is much steeper than the previous. He was talking while he walked to keep from thinking about his weakness, when he heard a voice from inside, ill-suited to forming words. Dante gets to the top of the bridge but can't see down into the darkness. He asks Virgil if they can descend closer to the bottom, and at the base of the bridge, he can see snakes everywhere. Running among the snakes were a bunch of sinners, stripped naked, and terrified. They are said to be "sanza sperar pertugio o elitropia"; without hope of 'pertugio', which is a narrow opening, and 'elitropia', which was, for Dante, a type of magical stone that would render the bearer invisible, and had curative powers, both of which would be handy in this scenario. Their hands were tied behind the backs by the snakes, who had latched on to their midsections by the heads and tails in knots. This is a sort of nasty parody of the garden of eden: with humans back in their original unclothed forms, covered in snakes, which was the form of Satan in the garden, rather than fig leaves. 

In the description of the snakes, Dante refers to Lucan, who describes all kinds of snakes from the Libyan desert, and in the passage that follows, Dante refers to Ovid's Metamorphosis in his description of the Phoenix.  

Dante sees one guy running by, and a snake launches itself at him, bites him where the neck and back join, and the guy catches on fire, burns, and turns to ashes. But then the ashes collect themselves, come back together, and the guys original form is recreated.  

Then Dante gives a simile of the phoenix, that is reborn. He follows that with another about a guy who falls and doesn't know how, (probably epileptic) who when he comes to, is completely dazed as to what happened, suffering from anxiety, then he gathers himself, and takes a deep breath. This is what the sinner looked like.  

Virgil asks who he was, and he replies that he recently "rained down" (was thrown down) from Tuscany. He lived a bestial, not even human, life, and his name was Vanni Fucci. Dante knows of him as a wrathful, killer. So he tells Fucci not to evade the truth, and be honest about how he got there. Fucci addresses Dante without trying to falsify his story. He admits that he stole from the church and let others take the blame for it. But then in a spiteful turn, tells Dante that in Pistoia, the Black Guelphs will first be driven out, but then Florence, will change leadership and with that, will come a new mindset too. Mars, the god of war, will "draw mists from the Val di Magra" (Maroello Malaspina, a black guelph), which is "enveloped in dark clouds" (symbolic of being accompanied by many other black guelphs), and a battle will be fought over the plains of Piceno, near Pistoia, which will break up, or split, the fog (which is white, probably representing the white guelphs), so that every white (guelph) will be injured.  

Then Fucci ends it with "I've told you this just to bring you pain". He had told Dante before the prophecy that he would do this: "so that you won't enjoy this sight (the sight of Fucci in hell) too much." 

Canto XXV  Eighth circle, seventh ditch- thieves; continued 

At the end of Vanni Fucci's speech, Fucci being the sinner from the end of the last canto, he raises his hands and makes the 'figs' gesture. Fico is 'fig' in Italian, but the feminine form- fica, is a rude word for the vagina, roughly equivalent to pussy or cunt. This sign is no longer used (surprising given the number of hand gestures Italians use) but it has been said it consisted of putting the thumb between the pointer and middle fingers, to imitate the shape of the vagina. So making this rude gesture upwards, he then screaming out: Togli, Dio, ch'a te le squadro! - Take that God, I aim them square at you! 

Dante then mentions that from this moment on, the snakes were his friends. Meaning they turned on Fucci. One wrapped around his neck as if to say: Non vo'(glio) che più diche- "I don't want you saying any more", or, as I translated it- "You're done talking here", and another wrapped around his arms, then tightened so he couldn't budge. Then Dante imprecates against Pistoia and says, why don't you decree to incinerate yourself so you won't last any longer, since you surpass your ancestors in evil.  

Then he notes that he had not seen so arrogant a soul in all of Hell, even the one who fell from Thebes- Capaneus in canto 14. But Fucci's punishment comes pretty quickly when Cacus, the mythological monster, comes running after him calling: Where is he? Where's the bitter one? 

Cacus is described as a centaur, but his back is covered in snakes, over which also sits a dragon that burns up anything it happens across.  

Cacus is in hell for theft too, because he stole some prized cows from Hercules' herd. Dante says he doesn't take the same path as his brothers, who were those that chastised sinners in another circle, but since he committed the theft, and did it in such a deceptive manner, he is consigned here. He led the cows away backwards into his lair under Mount Aventine, so that Hercules would be thrown off by the tracks heading the wrong way. But he was caught and "quit his sinister deeds under the club of Hercules, who perhaps hit him a hundred times, of which he didn't feel ten"…. Meaning he was dead before the tenth blow, but Hercules continued to beat on him to vent his rage. 

The next passage is going to show a strange metamorphosis. While Dante and Virgil watch Cacus chase after Fucci, three spirits arrive under the bridge. One calls out "who are you? Where did Cianfa (Donati- a cattle thief) get to?" 

Dante then addresses the reader and says we may be slow to believe what he is going to say; he himself had a hard time accepting it. 

A six-legged serpent launches himself at one of the three. He grips on to the man's stomach with his middle legs, and his arms with the front legs, and then bites the man engulfing one cheek, then the other. His back legs latched on to the man's legs, and the serpent's tail wrapped under the man's crotch, went between his legs and up the man's back. They began to fuse together like hot wax, and their color's mixed so that neither was what it was before. One of the other two says: Geez (omè), Agnel(lo Brunelleschi), how you are changing! You're no longer either one or two! 

The two heads were already one, with features of both mixed inside. Then two arms were made from four prior limbs, the thighs, legs, stomach and torso became limbs that were not there before, and each of the former countenances were undone. The perverse image seemed to be both, and neither, and went away very slowly. Then a little serpent raced up and bit on to the belly button, then fell down stretched out. Both the former man, and the serpent that had bit him, stood staring at each other, but were immobile and seemed tranquilized. Smoke poured out from the man's bite, and the serpent's mouth, and the smoke then merged.  

Here Dante tells both the poets Lucan (who, in the Pharsalia, tells of Sabellus, who was bitten by snake and began to dissolve; and Nasidius, who was bitten and swelled to explode in his breastplate) and Ovid (who tells how Cadmus, founder of Thebes, was changed into a serpent; and the nymph Arethusa was changed into a fountain), that he has a better story to tell; in other words, he has witnessed a more astonishing metamorphosis than they described. It was also mentioned that while Dante tells both Ovid and Lucan, "Taccia", or "be quiet", he also shushed Virgil earlier. So in one canto, Dante has told three of the most famous poets, and literary heroes of his, to be quiet. 

He then describes that the serpent split his tail into two, while the man put his feet together and his legs fused. The serpent's forked tail now took on the look of legs, with soft skin, while the former man's skin hardened into serpent skin. The arms of the former man then withdrew into the armpits, and the short legs of the former serpent lengthened until they were the length of a man. The hind feet of the serpent then twisted together and became a penis, while the former man's penis, was split into two members that became legs. 

The smoke veiled them and hair grew where it needed and was removed where needed. The former man then fell to the ground like a serpent, while the former serpent then stood up, all the while never removing their burning gaze from one another. The one now upright drew the extra material that was his snout back towards his temples, and the excess was converted into ears. The leftover skin in the front was changed into a nose and lips. Meanwhile the one laying on the ground had the opposite happen, his ears withdrew and the excess material pushed outward to form the serpent's snout. The tongue now split into two, while the tongue of the upright one was united. 

The snake, now completely transformed, hissed and took off along the floor of the ditch. While the other spit out words behind him. I'm unsure how exactly this looked. The Italian reads: 

L'altro dietro a lui parlando sputa; literally it means "the other behind him talking spits". 

Most of the other translations read it as the new 'man' followed behind the snake spitting and talking. 

Some of the old italian commentaries say he spoke the word 'spit'. The thing that came to my mind when I read it was: the new man remained behind him spitting out words.  

My understanding was supported by one, if only one, of the commentaries I saw, by Giovan Battista Gelli (1541-63): "che gli sputava parlando dietro, cioè gli sputava parole dietro, che vuol dire parlare (chè così si usa dire alcuna volta nella nostra lingua)".  

He says here that the phrase is understood as he spit words behind him, which is another way of saying "he spoke", a phraseology which is sometimes used in our language.  

I suppose it doesn't make too much of a difference, but it would change the picture of what is happening.  

Then the serpent that had become a man said to the other: Let Buoso (dei Donati) run all fours along the street, just like I had to. 

Dante mentions that this is how the seventh ballast- a creative way of saying the material that filled the bottom of the seventh ditch- would morph and change. 

Dante says that while this is all very confusing, and his mind seemed distracted, he couldn’t help but notice Puccio Sciancato, and another "was he (Francesco de' Cavalcanti) that you, Gaville, weep over". 

The people of Gaville murdered Francesco de' Cavalcanti after he committed some unknown crime along with Buoso dei Donati. 

Canto XXVI  Eighth circle, eighth ditch- evil counselors 

Dante leads off with a sarcastic little speech to his hometown Florence: Enjoy yourself Florence, you're so great that you beat your wings over land and sea (meaning the city spreads its influence far and wide), and more and more people in hell know about you (since more Florentines are being added to the ranks of hell-bound citizens). I found five of your members among the thieves, which made me feel more shame- your honor is NOT increasing! If it's true that our dreams are closer to truth as we near morning (apparently, this was something people believed in the middle ages: that as one got closer to the morning, dreams were more likely to be true), then very shortly you, Florence, will feel what your neighbors in Prato which for you. If it were already done, it wouldn't have happened too soon, so bring it on. Then Dante says something here: ché più mi graverà, com' più m'attempo ; it translates to "the older I get, the more it weighs on me". But what did Dante mean? There are two basic ways of understanding it: The older I get, the more the fact that Florence hasn't been destroyed yet bothers me; and the second is; the older I get, the more it weighs on me that Florence has so many problems. Most early translators thought it was the first, but apparently, as time as gone on, the second understanding has supplanted the first. I have no idea which it would be, but I'd probably lean towards the older interpretation since they were closer in time and culture to the original, but that's me. 

Then Dante says he and Virgil start off climbing again, which wasn't possible without using both hands and feet in the effort.  

Then Dante laments that he is aggrieved because he would have to, given what he had seen, hold back his own genius. Why? He may be tempted to run too far in front of virtue. This sounds like boasting, and it is, but Dante was well-regarded in his time, and this work, the divine comedy, was so well known and studied that even today I can check on what 20 others had to say about the passages, because they had written down extensive commentaries on the work within the first few hundred years. I'm not sure if there is a better known work of literature, outside of the Bible that has more commentaries on it. But at any rate, Dante describes what he sees in the eighth ditch of Malebolge with a simile.... natch. 

Like a peasant who would go up on a hill during the summer season, and as dark sets in, sees a bunch of fireflies down the hill, so Dante noticed the eighth ditch was lit up with all kinds of fires.  

Dante then makes a biblical reference when he says: "As the one who avenged himself with the bears saw Elijah's chariot depart when the horses carried it straight up to heaven....". This is the story of Elisha, who had received the "double portion", or inheritance, of Elijah's ministry. After having performed some miracles, he was rewarded by the local punk kids throwing rocks at him, and telling him "Go on up, you baldhead", at which point, he calls down vengeance on them and God sends some bears to maul them. Dante uses the imagery of Elijah being unable to see Elijah as he ascended, he could only see the flame as it ascended.... so while he could see flames on the floor of the ditch, the flames enveloped and hid the sinner.  

Dante mentions he is up on the bridge holding on to a protrusion in the rock, otherwise he would been unable to stay there without falling in. Virgil sees him and tells him, "Inside the flames are spirits, each one enveloped by that (the flame) which he is ignited". Dante says he could see that, but he has a particular interest in a flame that seems split into two, as if it were horns. Virgil tells him that is Ulysses and Diomedes, who are punished together, just as they were angry together in life. Virgil mentions two fraudulent activities they committed. The first was the "the ambush of the horse", or the story of the Trojan horse; and the second was stealing the statue of Pallas from the Palladium. 

Then Dante pleads with Virgil: I'm seriously begging you, and begging again, and let this be like a thousand beggings, that you don't make me wait any longer, and that horned flame would come over here. You can see how I'm bowed down before you with this one desire. This sounds very childlike: Please, pretty please, I promise that if you just do this for me I'll never ask you anything ever again! 

Virgil grants it, but tells Dante to just listen, since they're Greek and they might not want to open up to someone who isn't Greek speaking. Virgil calls them over and asks them nicely, if he has merited any favor from them, for one of them to explain where he was lost and went to die. 

Here Ulysses launches into a speech that goes until the end of the canto. Recalling that this ditch is for those that defraud through evil counsel, the salient point is that he will lead his men into destruction for through a search for glory. It should be noted however that the type of fraud this ditch holds is not explicitly said until the next canto. 

Ulysses starts off from when he left Circe, and how family ties were not enough to keep him at home because he burned for adventure, and wanted to know more of the world, both of valor and vice. He convinces his men to set off through the strait of Gibraltar with a speech: You've come through countless dangers to reach this point, beyond which are lands unknown. Our lives on earth are short and you don't want to lose the opportunity of experience "behind" (beyond) the sun (further west than the Strait of Gibraltar). Consider what your descendants will say; you were not meant to live like brutes, but to pursue manhood and understanding. This last sentence is considered to be one of the most important. The earliest commentors considered these to be the spirit with which the middle ages were passed, and the renaissance was entered in: Fatti non foste a viver come bruti, ma per seguir virtute e canoscenza; "You weren't made to live as brutes, but to pursue manhood and understanding, or knowledge." 

This little speech fires them up so they set off and turn to the south. Through some five months they journey southward seeing the stars "de l'altro polo" (of the other pole, the south pole), and their own usual constellations they would see in the northern hemisphere were now on the horizon. They saw before them a huge mountain, dark in the distance, so high that there probably none other like it. This is supposed to be the mountain of purgatory, which Ulysses was not meant to see, so as they come up to it, a whirlwind springs up, causes a whirlpool and sinks the ship, "com'altrui piacque" (as Another (God) pleased). 

Here the canto ends. 

There is a parallel between Dante's own journey through hell, purgatory, and paradise, with Ulysses' journey. But Dante's is commissioned by God. Ulysses took his journey by presumption and desire for human glory. The Strait of Gibraltar was the point of passage beyond which he wasn't supposed to go, but he stirred his men up with visions of glory to seek out knowledge beyond what they were meant to have. This is reminiscent of the sin of Adam and Eve, trespassing beyond what they were given in order to gain the knowledge of good and evil.  

Canto XXVII  Eighth circle, eighth ditch- evil counselors; cont.... 

Ulysses had finished his speech on the last line of the previous canto. Now the flame is still and goes away. But the travelers are immediately approached by another flame, that has a 'confused' sound coming from within. Dante likens this to a bronze bull, that was commissioned by the tyrant of Agrigento, Phalaris. The hollow bull was a torture device built by Perillus, which, utilizing some acoustic innovations, when a fire was set underneath the bull, would heat it up and would make the screams of the victims inside sound like the bull itself was bellowing. Perillus was himself the first victim. So the voice from inside the flame is likened to the bellowing that would have come from that bronze bull. But the sound having made its way up to the tip of the fire, it caused the flame to move like a tongue, and subsequently was able to speak. The speaker never gives his name, but it is known to be Guido da Montefeltro. He begs Dante for information about his homeland, Romagna- whether it is under war, or at peace. Dante notes that the tyrants there always have war in the hearts, but as of when he had left, there was no current fighting. Then he runs through, what to modern readers, are some rather cryptic descriptions of the major towns in the Romagna region.   

Ravenna's the same as it has been for many years; Guido il Vecchio (the eagle) broods there, controlling the port city of Cervia. 

The "land", not named, but Forlì, had withstood a siege by the papal armies and the French, the the same Guido da Montefeltro, led a surprise attack and defeated the French, which were heaped up and referred to as the bloody heap, or pile. Forlì is said to be under the green claws (the family crest of the Ordilaffi had a green lion with paws up and claws out). 

The old mastiff of Verrucchio, covering the area around Rimini, is Malatesta il Vecchio, the new is his son Malatestino. They are bulldogs because, they won't let things go, even after they've gotten their prey. They "made of Montagna the bad government"; they killed the Ghibelline Montagna, by what Dante calls- making a juice with their teeth. Apparently, this means, like the dogs in the simile, they made a bloody mess of the conquest. 

The rivers of Lamone and Santerno designate the cities of Faenza and Imola, which were under a banner that had a lion on a white shield, which, Dante tells us, were prone to change parties from "summer to winter", meaning.... whenever it was expedient. 

Then "that which the Savio (river) bathes its side"… meaning the city of Cesena, is between tyranny and being a free state. Ok, that historical and geographical section aside, Dante says- be no more difficult with me than I've been with you, which is to say, not at all. Tell me who you are, that your name would endure in the world. 

Guido apparently doesn't believe this because he starts out by saying "If I believed my response were to someone that would ever return up to the world, this flame would be still and move no more. But since no living person ever returns from this pit, if I've heard correctly, I'll respond with no fear of infamy. 

He explains he was a man of arms, but then became a "cordigliero", one who wears the cord... a Franciscan friar, believing that this would make amends for his former lifestyle. And it would have, so he claims, had not the "high priest" (the Pope), may evil (Hell) take him, dragged him back into his former sins. He confesses that his actions were not leonine, not brave and courageous, but fox-like, meaning he was more subtle and scheming. He knew the clever tricks and hidden ways so well that his methods we well-known far and wide. When he reached the point in life when one should be settling down, the things that had formerly pleased him became nauseating. He repented, confessed, and surrendered himself... which would have done him good... but the prince of the new Pharisees (the Pope) was at war with the Lateran, which refers to Pope Boniface VIII's conflict with the Colonna family. Guido complains that this Pope wasn't engaged in trying to win back the Holy lands with war against the Saracens or Jews, but instead, was busy fighting other Christians. These were not the Christians who had turned traitor to the faith and helped the Saracens retake Acre, nor were they merchants among the Muslims, which would have been against Papal orders. But the Pope disregarded his own high office and sacred orders, as well as the "harness on me that used to make belts thinner". This refers to the custom of fasting, the 'harness' that the Franciscan order placed on its members to help them put to death the flesh, making them thinner in the process.  

Dante says, as Constantine, when he was sick with leprosy, had gone to mount Soracte and asked Pope Sylvester to pray for him and heal him, so Boniface VIII called Guido as a master, to 'heal the fever of his pride', which kind of sounds like the Pope wants to get better, but what it means is that "fever" is the heat of avarice, and the Pope wants a cure, something that will fix his longing and bring him his desire, which is to bring down Palestrina, the seat of the Colonna family. 

Guido says he remained silent since it sounded to him like something a drunk would say. But the Pope gives both a carrot and stick. The Pope tells Guido: don't be suspicious or worried about committing crime. I will absolve you of anything going forward. Then he adds, I can lock and unlock heaven. This is from the biblical passage where Jesus tells Peter he will give him the keys to heaven. The Popes understood this as them having the power, being in the line of Peter, of being able to declare who would, and would not, enter heaven. This is both a carrot- if you do this for me, you'll be absolved of any wrong, which I can do because I'm Pope... and if you don't do this for me, I can also excommunicate you, because I also have THAT key. This persuades Guido that it would be better to give the pope what he wanted than not. He tells Boniface, since you would wash me of whatever sin this will be, the advice I give you is: be long on your promises, and short on keeping them. 

Then we jump to the point of Guido's death, where St. Francis comes to collect him, as one of the members of his order. But then a demon jumps in and says: don't take him, he should go down with me, since he gave fraudulent counsel. (Here the sin of the eighth ditch is finally named outright), and ever since then, I've been in his hair... or waiting patiently right behind his back.  

Then the demon says that the Pope can't absolve someone who doesn't repent, and furthermore, repentance does not square with someone willfully committing the sin, because the law of contradiction would not allow it. 

Guido is devastated and shaken by this, but the demon, as it grabs him, says: "perhaps you thought I wasn't a logician! 

Then Minos grabbed him and wrapped his tail around him eight times, and threw him down to the present place. With that, Guido finishes his speech and departs in sorrow. 

The canto closes with Virgil and Dante moving over the next ditch, where those sowed strife and schism are consigned. 

Canto XVIII  Eighth circle, ninth ditch- schismatics/sowers of discord 

Dante leads off this canto with a disclaimer that human language can't really capture the carnage he saw in this ditch. He reasons that if one were to gather all those that had fallen in the various wars that occurred in the region of Puglia: Aeneas and the Trojans around 500BC; the dead from the long wars against Hannibal and the Carthaginians, particularly at Cannae in 216BC where Dante mentions a huge pile of rings, which were the rings collected off the dead Roman soldiers; those that tried to resist Robert Guiscard in 1170AD; and the battle of Ceperan (Ceprano) near Benevento in 1266, and 1268, where Manfred was abandoned by his Pugliese troops, and defeated by Charles of Anjou; Dante mentions all these and says that if all the dead and wounded, those with lopped off limbs and sliced open bodies, were brought out en masse, they still wouldn't equal what he was seeing in this ninth ditch. 

The first of the condemned he sees, he likens to a barrel, that had one of its middle staves broken into, or maybe the bottom piece hacked up. This person was sliced across the midsection so that "between his legs hung his guts; the organs were seen outside and that disgusting sack that makes shit out of what we gobble up". He sees Dante checking him out and then opens his torso up with his hands and says "See how Mohammed is mangled!". Then Mohammed lets us know that "the others you see here were disseminators of scandal and schism", so they are split open here. More about this at the end. 

Mohammed then questions Dante and Virgil asking them, what are you doing up there on the ridge? Are you trying to delay your punishment down here for a few moments more? 

Virgil then explains that he has not been sent here by his sins, but travels through to gain a full experience, for which he, Virgil, is his guide through the various levels of Hell.  

At this point, more than a hundred stop their travel, walking the circumference of the ditch, to take a look at this marvel: a living person able to traverse hell. 

Mohammed then suggests to Dante that he, if he goes back up to the world, might warn Fra Dolcin to stock up on food. Dolcin was the leader of a sect called the Apostolic Brothers, who preached communion of goods, including wives.... in a foolish attempt to avoid the worldliness of town and mercantile life. Pope Clement V called a crusade against him, so Dolcin and his followers fled to a mountain stronghold and withstood a siege from the towns of Vercelli and Novara, until a harsh winter forced him to surrender. Mohammed isn't really trying to warn a fellow human of impending disaster in an attempt to convince him to change his ways. The advice is malicious, because he knows what will happen. Even then in death, he is an unrepentant sower of discord. 

Then having halted his circuit to talk with Dante, continues on. 

Then another comes up, with a mangled face split into two, and says he is Pier da Medicina, of who we know little. But he tells Dante that he should warn two "of the best of Fano", Guido del Cassero and Angiolello da Carignano, to beware. They would be called to a meeting by Malatestino Malatesta, duke of Rimini, who would give the sailors on the ship orders to tie up the men, put a weight on them, and toss them into the sea. The description of this incident is a bit cryptic. 

Then Pier turns to a companion, Gaius Curio, who can't speak since he has had his tongue split in his face. Pier says Curio "was chased out, drowned the doubts of Caesar, affirming that one prepared always suffers loss when he delays". Curio had taken a bribe to join Caesar's army in the civil war against Pompey. Caesar hesitated to cross the Rubicon, which would be seen as declaring war on the Roman senate, when Curio counseled, "Do not delay, putting a thing off always harms those who are prepared". 

Then another came up and, I believe referring to himself, says "remember Mosca (dei Lamberti) too". He was a leader of an important Ghibelline family.  He was engaged to a young girl in the Amedei family, but broke it off and married an Donati instead.  The offended Amedei met with the Lamberti to figure out what to do, at which Mosca said: "cosa fatto capo ha", or "a thing that's done has an end". The result was years of bitter rivalry between the Amedei (Ghibellines) and Donati (Guelphs) and the civil discord that tore Florence apart. He is portrayed then as a modern-day Curio, urging the powerful to do what they must have understood in their hearts as something not to be done. 

Finally, they meet a condemned man, Bertram dal Bornio, carrying his severed head by the hair. He was rumored to have spurred the young English king Henry II to rebel against his father. 

The last four lines of the canto are: 

Perch’io parti’ così giunte persone,  partito porto il mio cerebro, lasso!,  dal suo principio ch’è in questo troncone.  Così s’osserva in me lo contrapasso  Because I severed people so united,  Alas, I now carry my head severed  From its beginning, which is in this trunk.  As such, observe the just retribution in me 

This is the only mention of the term "contrappasso" in the inferno, but the concept is important. It literally means "opposite punishment". (it looks like counter 'step', but passo comes from the latin patior). The idea is "just retribution"; that whatever sin was committed in life, the punishment will mirror the sin. The biblical principle is "an eye for an eye". The punishments in Dante's hell are meant to fit the crime committed in the world, in the sense of an obvious emblem and symbol of the sin. What the sinners did in life, they have now become, with the self-deception stripped away. 

Though this was unnamed in the previous cantos, the effect could be seen and understood, so that, while unstated, it was also understood. 

[thetldrplace]

Inferno: Cantos 15-21

Canto XV  As virgil and Dante are walking along the banks of the river, there is a mist that shades them from the fire flakes falling over the hot sand. Dante notes that the banks shield them like the Dutch building dikes to shield them from the ocean's tidal incursion into the Netherlands, and as the citizens of Padova built up levees to protect them from the overflow of the Brenta river. 

The second triplet contains the line: "Quali Fiamminghi tra Guizzante e Bruggia"; the Fiamminghi are the Flemish, (or Dutch at that time), Guizzante and Bruggia are the Italian names for the cities of Wissant and Bruges, but the names are reminiscent of Italian words related to fire: 

Fiamminghi- fiamma or flame  Guizzante- darting  Bruggia- burning 

So that this geological description which translated is: "As the Flemish, between Wissant and Bruges"; 

But it also sounds like: as the flames between darting and burning. Just great wordplay by Dante the poet. 

Anyway, as they move on, they see a group of people walking. That would mean these are among the sodomites. Several of the commentaries mention that Dante doesn't describe what exactly he means by "sodomy", and in fact, he doesn’t ever even call them out as sodomites. So what exactly the sin is, is somewhat up for grabs here. Sodomy has historically been the sin of homosexuality. But if I recall correctly, in the autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, he was arrested for sodomy with a woman, which would mean, excuse the bluntness: anal sex. If this was illegal, then it would be that even among heterosexual couples, this behavior was considered sinful. Maybe that fits as being "against nature" in the sense that sex was seen as procreative, not recreation, so engaging in sodomy was a way to avoid the consequences of sex. I dunno, I'm just speculating here. The unsure attitude about what exactly sodomy would have meant to Dante is also due to the fact that there are homosexuals included in purgatory. But it may also be that some of the modern commentary is an attempt to avoid condemnation of homosexuality, since that's considered homophobic today. But Dante lived under no such constraint. My guess is he meant these as sodomites, or homosexuals, and was not afraid to condemn them. That said, his treatment is much more progressive than many of the depictions of the day, which showed highly sexualized tortures as the just punishment for their perversion.  

They see Virgil and Dante and look hard at them when one notices Dante and says: Qual maraviglia! What a marvel! 

Dante says he recognizes him as an old tutor, Ser Brunetto Latini, and Dante is astounded he is found here. Dante offers to sit with him for a bit, but Brunetto says that if he stops walking, he will have to lie for 100 years without the ability to shield himself from the burning flakes, so, ya know... best to keep moving! Brunetto asks how he has journeyed there, and Dante tells him how he had lost his way before mid-way through his life. The Italian phrase was weird for me: avanti che 'l età mia fosse piena. That looks to me like: before my age was full, which I'd understood as "before the end of my life".  But what it actually means is 'before I reached the fullest part of my life', which would be considered around 35, when he would have been established, but still in full health. Anyway, Dante says Virgil saved him and is leading him home, but through this path. 

Brunetto says he'll do well and not fail to find his glorious port, his fame and glory. He also says he would have helped Dante in his work had he still been alive. But.... "those malicious ingrates" (The leaders of Florence), and here it gets fun: "who descended long ago from Fiesole" (a town in the mountains outside Florence that was attacked by the Romans, driving the inhabitants to live as uncivilized rustics outside the city) who still retain the manners of the mountain and boulders... basically, they're still uncultured hillbillies at heart.... will make you their enemy just because you try to do right. 

Brunetto encourages Dante to stay away from them to keep himself clean. Both the white and black Guelphs will hunger for Dante's life, but may the grass be far away from the mouth: ma lungi fia dal becco l'erba. That sounds like a proverb that I believe would mean something like: may the goats (the evil Florentine leaders) not be able to get at the grass (Dante) to eat it (kill him). 

Brunetto continues saying those beasts from Fiesole can get their own straw to eat, and leave the native plants (if any would grow in their shit that litters the ground), among which lives again the holy seed of those Romans that remained even after their nest of malice was created. Clearly, Brunetto harbors some bitter feelings against the Florentines... 

Dante notes that he wishes with all his heart that Brunetto had not died, but that to know he had touched Dante deeply with his fatherly care. Dante would acknowledge Brunetto and also what Brunetto told him. He accepts what has been revealed and before they move on, Dante asks who else of note and rank is there. Brunetto gives him a few names: Priscian and Francesco d'Accorso.  

Priscian refers to a well-known Latin teacher from the sixth century. There was a traditional Medieval association of boys' teachers with sodomites. 

Francesco d'Accorso was a famous Florentine teacher of law at the universities of Bologna and Oxford. 

But of the rest, Brunetto says he has no more time and must turn back to return to his group. 

Dante finishes the canto by saying Brunetto left running after his group as one who wins a race, not as one who loses. 

Canto XVI  The first lines of this canto concern the rumbling of water that will get progressively louder as they go. It's first mentioned as being "similar to the rumble made at a beehive". 

But right away, Dante and Virgil see three shades break off from their traveling companions and run over towards them tell them to "Hold up, you who are dressed like, what seems to us, someone from our depraved land". They are Florentines. Dante recognizes them even through their burns and scars. Virgil says that if it weren't for the fire they are under, it might be better if Dante were to run to them, than the other way around. Then they perform this weird, almost dance, where they gather in a circle, and continually move around one way, while looking back the other way. They of course do this because if they stop moving, so we learned from the previous canto, they would have to lay on the sand for 100 years and not be able to sweep away the fire flakes falling on them. 

They call out to Dante and ask him who he is, that can pass through Hell in his living body. They ask if he is repulsed by their condition. Then they tell who they are: Guido Guerra, the grandson of lady Gualdrada is the first. The second is Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, and the speaker is Iacopo Rusticucci, who, he says by way of introducing himself, was condemned more by his fierce wife than anything else. 

Dante then says that if he could safely jump down there and hug them, he would, but fear of being cooked by the fire overruled his desire to reunite.  

He explains that he isn't repulsed by them at all, but sorrow at seeing such noble men as them subjected to such punishment. He says he knows of each of them and their honored works and names. He then says he is commissioned to go through Hell as part of escaping his mid-life crisis, mentioned in Canto I. 

The men honor Dante and ask how things are going with their city, for they have heard negative reports from the recently come Guglielmo Borsiere. We know little more about him. 

Dante then cries out, almost to heaven, saying: 

La gente nuova e i sùbiti guadagni  orgoglio e dismisura han generata,  Fiorenza, in te, sì che tu già ten piagni  Newcomers and their recent wealth  Have generated pride and excess in you  Florence, so that you already regret it. 

The three men look at each other, seemingly grasping the truth. 

They then ask a favor of Dante: if he returns to the world of the living, please tell others about them. 

Then they break off and, as Dante says, before you could say an "Amen", they were gone. 

Virgil moves on with Dante following, this time the water so loud that they were at pains to hear each other. Then Dante moves through an extended simile about a river that descends in a deafening waterfall, to paint a picture of the volume. After that we get a metaphor... of something... 

I had a cord wrapped around me, with which  I had thought a few times about capturing  the leopard with the spotted skin.  When I had completely untied it  as my guide had instructed me,  I handed it to him wound and knotted.  Then he turned to the right  and tossed it far down over the edge of that deep chasm. 

Whatever the belt is, whatever it signifies, Virgil asks him to take it off, then chucks it over the edge. The only clue he gives us is that he thought about capturing the leopard from Canto I with it. The leopard was thought to signify 'lust', so the cord would signify something that lust could be capture with. Some have offered 'temperance' as a possibility. But I don't know why Virgil would want him to take that off for the descent. As one commentor said: perhaps the point is that one shouldn't be confident in one's own ability to conquer sin generally, and particularly, to outsmart those guilty of lies and fraud in the level below.  

Then Virgil looks over and fixes his eyes on something Dante can only understand as way outside what he would be able to fathom. And sure enough, up comes something Dante tells us is a "truth that has the face of a lie". Dante swears, "by the lines of this comedy..... that I saw someone come swimming upward through that dense and dark air". 

We'll meet this monster in the next Canto.  

But Dante's message with the 'truth that has the face of a lie'; quel ver c'ha faccia di menzogna; is that his poem, the divine comedy, is essentially a truth, even though it has the face of fiction.  

Canto XVII  Canto 17 starts off with Virgil declaring something about this beast Dante saw at the end of the last Canto: "Behold the beast with the barbed tail, flying past mountains, breaking walls and armies, behold he who stinks up the world". The beast will be named Geryon, and is symbolic of fraud. In mythology, he was a giant with three bodies, who ruled as king of Spain. It was one of Hercule's labors to slay him. Anthony Esolen, in the notes of the English translation I'm using, says tradition developed in the middle ages that he was a hypocrite that kindly invited his guests in, then killed them.  

He is described by Dante as having the face of a just man, but the body of a serpent, hairy limbs with paws, and a bifurcated tail that could sting like a scorpion. Virgil says he stinks up the world, because he corrupts what separates man from beast: he uses language, reason and intelligence to deceive. 

In the description of Geryon, Dante treats us to a name that could use some explanation.  He says of the monsters colors: 

his back, chest and both sides   were colored with knots and circlets,  Neither Turks nor Tartars used more colors  in the groundwork or embroidery of their drapes,  nor was Arachne imposed with such cloths. 

Arachne was a woman in mythology that challenged Athena to a weaving contest. Athena defeated her, and then turned Arachne into a spider for her presumption. The spider still weaves incredible designs in its web- but it also is a nice symbol, writes Esolen, for the complications and plots of liars. 

Virgil tells Dante he must go speak with the beast, and in the meantime, go and see who the third group are in the third ring: those sitting in the sand. These would be the usurers. He tells Dante to be quick though and not engage them in much conversation. Dante then heads off alone. The men sit in the sand, viciously trying to chase away the burning fire flakes that land on them. He doesn't recognize the souls personally, but there are three with purses, each emblazoned with different family crests: 

The yellow purse with the blue face and posture of a lion would be the Gianfigliazzi family- Black Guelphs.  

The red purse with the white goose would be the Obriachi family crest, Florentine Ghibellines. 

The one with the white purse with the blue sow is, most believe, Reginaldo degli Scrovegni, from Padova. He was so well-known as a usurer, that he reportedly moved his son Arrigo to endow the construction of the Scrovegni chapel, with walls decorated by Giotto's frescoes. It is one of the most beautiful interior spaces in the Western world. Each of the three men sat with their purses tied around the necks and "I loro occhi si pasca", their eyes feasted on the purses. As usurers, they were so greedy for money, that their punishment here is to sit with their purses stuck near their mouths, almost like feedbags for animals. Their low manners are revealed. 

It is Reginaldo that brusquely confronts Dante, with: "Che fai tu in questa fossa? Or te ne va", similar to "what the hell are you doing here in this dump? Now beat it". 

Then he adds something along the lines of: in case you're still living and heading back up, you can tell my neighbor Vitaliano he'll be joining me here in hell! We're not sure who this is referring to. 

Then Reginaldo continues that he is from Padova, and he's stuck in among these Florentines who are constantly telling him that "the sovereign knight comes....!", probably referring to Giovanni di Buiamonte dei Becchi, an able broker that rose to an elevated position in Florence, until he was convicted of embezzlement and forced to give his possessions to the church. Then Dante says he stuck out his tongue, like an ox that licks his nose. I don't know if Reginaldo stuck out his tongue to lick his nose, or if he did it in disrespect, but quickly Dante decides he's outta there and heads back. 

By the time he returns, he finds Virgil already mounted on Geryon's back to make the descent down to the eighth level through flight. He tells Dante to get on in front of him so Geryon's tail won't sting him, and as Dante gets on, he wants to tell Virgil to hold him tightly, but he can't muster the words. Virgil however understands and holds on to him. Geryon backs up into the sky, then heads downward. 

Dante uses a few similes: of Phaeton, losing control in the sky and scorching the earth, and of Icarus fear as he falls to earth, to relate his own fear as he loses all sight of any land. 

As they approach the landing, Dante can hear loud noise from the whirlpool, and can see flames and hear cries, and they begin to come from all sides as they come nearer to landing. Finally they do land, and Virgil and Dante dismount, only to see Geryon fly off as an arrow from the bow. 

So ends Canto 17 

Canto XVIII  The eighth circle 

There is a place in hell called Malebolge. Mala is bad/evil, bolgia is a ditch. 

If you could envision a circular pit. As Dante travels deeper into hell, the diameter of the pit gets progressively smaller. Each level is comprised of a cliff on the outer diameter, and then another cliff that drops off when it gets to the inner diameter, which would look like a deep round hole.  

In this eighth circle of hell, there are a series of 10 concentric ditches, like moats, but not filled with water. They each hold a progressively worse type of fraud. There are arched bridges over each of these ditches so that Virgil and Dante can travel over them. The slope of the entire level drains towards the center, so that the top of the first ditch is higher than the top of the second, etc.  

Virgil and Dante were dropped off by Geryon at the edge of the first of the concentric ditches. 

First ditch-  

Each of the ditches has sinners that walk one way on one side, and others that walk another way on the other side. Dante describes this as when the Romans held the year of jubilee in 1300 AD, and those crossing the bridge over the Tiber at the Castel Sant'Angelo, would have to keep to one side as they were heading towards the Castle and then Saint Peter's, while on the other side would be those crossing towards the hills of Rome. I've actually been on that bridge, and gone to the Castel Sant'Angelo and then Saint Peter's, so when I read that I thought: Wow! I know exactly what he's talking about! 

The first ditch is filled with ruffiani, which translates not to "ruffians", but more like pimps; those who sell women. Dante recognizes one, who tries to hide his face, but too late. Dante calls him out as Venédico Caccianemico, and then asks him: Ma che ti mena a sì pungenti salse? Literally: "What led you into such spicy sauce?" The man responds that he doesn't want to say, but he is compelled by Dante's clear speech. He confesses that he was the one, as the sordid tale relates, that, as a politician in Bologna, compelled his sister, Ghisolabella, into a political marriage with the Marquis Obizzo d'Este, signore of Ferrara for monetary gain. 

Venedico then states that there are many other Bolognese there with him: 

anzi n’è questo loco tanto pieno,  che tante lingue non son ora apprese  a dicer ’sipa’ tra Sàvena e Reno;  In fact, this place is so full of them  that not as many have learned   to say ‘sipa’ between the Savena and the Reno; 

What this means is that 'this place' (hell) is so full of them (Bolognese) that 'not as many have learned to say 'sipa' (this is apparently the bolognese accent for saying "Si" or Yes) between the Savena river, which runs north/south about 3 miles to the west of the city, and the Reno river, which runs north/south about 3 miles to the east of the city. If not as many have learned the accent of Bologna in Bologna, then there are probably more in hell than in Bologna itself. Caccianemico himself says that Dante can find proof of this himself if he just thinks about the reputation for avarice that the city has. 

At that point, a demon whips him and tells him to get moving since there are no women for him to pimp out here.  

Dante and Virgil move on over the bridge and Virgil tells Dante to watch those that were walking along the same direction they were moving. Virgil points out one in particular, a 'great soul' that appears to not even shed a tear even in that place. He is famous in Greek mythology as leader of the Argonauts. He was married to the sorceress Medea and sought the golden fleece. 

He is among the seducers. His sin was that he seduced Hypsipyle, queen on the island of Lemnos. The women there had neglected their worship of Aphrodite, who, in revenge, made them stink to their husbands. Their husbands, then took other women from Thrace as concubines, which angered the wives enough to kill the men in revenge. Jason seduced the queen as well as many other women. 

Second ditch 

The travelers cross the bridge to see the inhabitants of the second ditch who are the flatterers. 

There the walls of the ditch are encrusted with a mold from the vapors that rise up and Dante says the stench assaults the eyes and nose. With good reason too. The people there groan weakly and are forced to pant, or breath, with difficulty, for down in the ditch is what looks like an emptied latrine- human excrement. Dante spots one that he recognizes as Alessio Interminei from Lucca.  

Alessio sees Dante asks him why he is so busy looking at him rather than anybody else? Dante responds that he had already seen him with "dry hair", which apparently is a contrast with his current condition of being soaked in shit, or, in other words, he had known him when he was alive. 

Alessio then confesses that his own flatteries sunk him down into this shit, which, while alive, his tongue never tired of metaphorically licking... what we would today call a 'brown-noser'. 

At that point, Virgil calls attention to another soul, Thais, who he labels quella sozza e scapigliata fante, "that filthy disheveled whore". One of the commentaries on this gives this recap:  "Taide is a character in Terence's Eunuch to whom Thrason sent the pimp Gnaso to give him a slave. After his collaborator had returned, the sender asked him if she was grateful for that gift, he replied: "enormously". It is supposed that Dante heard about this passage from Cicero in De Amicitia, in which the example of flattery is given since he responds differently from "very" as we have seen; however, the poet reports in the Comedy that the person pronouncing the phrase is Taides instead of the man in charge because Cicero's text does not include the names of the characters in the dialogue." 

So it seems Dante the poet may have misunderstood the text and included Thais in the group of flatterers wrongly. 

At any rate, Virgil says they've seen enough and there end the Canto. 

Canto XIX  Eighth circle: third ditch- simonists 

This third ditch on the level of Fraud is for those guilty of simony, or using the church for financial gain. 

Dante starts off with: O Simon Magus and his miserable followers.... referring to the biblical story of Simon Magus, one of the characters in the early days of the church, who, seeing the miracles performed by the apostles through the Holy Spirit, offered to pay the apostles money to have them lay hands on him, so he too could perform some of those miracles and continue his trade as a 'miracle worker'. Peter condemns him because he thought he could 'buy they gift of the Holy Spirit'. Accordingly, this sin is named after him, Simon, as 'simony'. 

The ditch is filled with holes the size of a man. Dante mentions that they were the same size as the pits used at San Giovanni church, his home parish, for baptizing converts, and that he had actually broken one not too long ago to save a boy who had fallen in and was drowning. There may be, in this story, a symbolic meaning: access to the water in the baptismal was for the clerics only. It was off-limits to the laity. The fact that Dante broke it in order to save a life may point to an argument that some of the boundaries put up by the official church may need to be broken in order to save lives.  

In each of the holes is a sinner, upside down, with his legs exposed up to mid-thigh. Their feet were on fire, and they jerked about so strongly that they would have broken woven ropes. The flames moved over the surface of the feet as if they were covered in oil. There is a symbolism in this as well: these men had gotten things upside down. They spent their time on earth, where they were supposed to be concerned with spiritual things, instead focused so much on the earth below, that now they are turned upside down for eternity.  

Dante asks Virgil about one he sees, who is squirming more than the others, and who the flame seems to devour more. Virgil says he will take him down below where he can learn of the man and his errors. 

The go down a steep edge that is pocked with holes and is narrow and difficult to move through. Virgil keeps Dante at his side until they reach the spot. Then Dante asks the man whoever you are, planted here like a stake in the ground, if possible, can you tell us who you are? 

Then Dante says he waited like a priest who hears the confessions of an assassin, who when placed like this, suddenly remembers he had more to confess, and so asks the executioners if he can go back and tell the priest more, which is all an attempt to stave off the moment of his death. Apparently, assassins in Dante's day were planted upside down this way, then buried alive.  

The man, Pope Nicholas III, screams: Are you here already, Boniface?  (VIII, the pope who followed him) The writings, or prophecy, had said you wouldn't be here for many more years! Is your greed already so sated that you are dead? You had no fear of taking the beautiful woman,  by which he means the church, the 'bride of Christ', by deceit only to tear her apart. 

Dante says he stood there flabbergasted, and assumed the soul must be mocking him, because Dante didn't understand what was being said. Virgil gets this and tells Dante: "Tell him that you aren't who he thinks you are", and Dante does so. Then Nicholas, sighing and weeping, asks him: Then what do you want from me? Are you so on fire to know who I am, that you actually came down these banks just for that? Well, I was a pope, the 'son of the bear', meaning he was of the family Orsini, or 'little bears', and he was so eager to advance his families careers in the church, that he stashed away wealth there, only to be himself stashed away here. Then Nicholas mentions that the other simonist popes were flattened down and rest under him. And when the next one comes, Boniface VIII, which he mistook Dante for, then he too will be flattened and Boniface will be upside down with his feet being burned. 

Then he mentions that after him, an even filthier pope will come from the west (France) Clement V, who will be a shepherd (of the church) without law who would deserve to cover both of them.  Nicholas declares that Clement V will be a 'new Jason', referring to the high priest of Judea, who bought the position from Antiochus Epiphanes IV. Antiochus placed the 'abomination which causes desolation ( A statue of Zeus) in the Holy of Holies in the temple at Jerusalem, and ordered prostitute priestesses to perform their rites there.  

Dante then says: I don’t know if I was being overly harsh here, but I responded to him like this: 

OK, tell me how much money Jesus demanded from Peter when he entrusted to him the keys of the kingdom? He asked Peter only to follow him. Nor did Peter and the other apostles take gold or silver from Matthias when he was chosen to replace Judas as the twelfth apostle. You SHOULD stay here so you can be punished like you deserve. Take a look at that ill-gotten cash you got that made you burn against Charles (of Anjou). Most of the popes had gotten along with France, but Nicholas changed that, and Dante accuses him here of taking money as part of the plot against Charles. 

Dante continues his attack with a statement that is only his own respect for the position that he doesn't use even stronger words to denounce Nicholas, since his avarice worsens the world, tramples good people, and raises up the depraved ones. John the Evangelist warned about such as Nicholas when he wrote in the book of Revelation about the woman who sits over the waters and whores with kings- she had seven heads and took strength from ten horns, as long as virtue pleased her husband, the pope.  

He continues the denunciation by saying these popes made money their god, and there is no difference between the old-school idolater and them, except the old idolaters prayed to one false god, while the popes appealed to hundreds that had money. He finishes by saying that the position the popes had after Constantine as heads of the official church has been turned into a great evil, particularly with the grants of land to the church. 

Virgil looks on approvingly at this, not only for its truth, but the greatness of its poetic utterance. Then they pass up to where they can see the next 'valley' or the fourth ditch. 

Canto XX  Eighth circle: fourth ditch- diviners 

The canto starts off saying new verses are needed for new punishments, to give substance to the twentieth canto of this first poem: the inferno. Dante looks and sees people in this fourth ditch moving along at the pace of a slow, religious procession, silently weeping as they go. As he looks closer, he notices that at their necks, they are each twisted around so that their heads face backwards, and they walk as they are facing, backwards. He says that he started to weep when he saw these twisted so much, che ’l pianto de li occhi le natiche bagnava per lo fesso, "their tears fell in their buttcracks". He says he had to lean against the rocks for support so he could weep. It's possible that Dante feels himself guilty of this, and that's why he has so much pity for these. He has certainly seen people in hell suffering terrible consequences, but he doesn't always show the kind of pity for them that he does here. However, Virgil reprimands him and says: "Are you like the other fools? Then Virgil makes something of a wordplay when he says: 

Qui vive la pietà quand’è ben morta 

The word 'pietà' can mean both pity and piety, so that what Virgil means is: Pity lives here when piety is dead. In other words, Virgil implies, Dante needs to conform his will to God, and understand that this is true justice. Who could be more evil than the guy who would implicate God's own justice against these sinners and feel that they deserve pity instead? Raise up your head and look at these guys!  Virgil then notes Amphiaraus, one of the seven kings who besieged Thebes. He had foreseen that he would not survive the war, and sure enough, the ground opened up and swallowed him. 

The sin of divination, as Dante sees it, is an offense against God in that it tries to know the future, which only God can and should know. And since, being placed in the eighth circle, they are guilty of fraud, clearly Dante doesn't see divination as actually capable of seeing the future, it is an attempt to defraud. And since they wanted to see so far forward, now they are twisted and only see behind them. 

Next Virgil points out Tiresias, who, in Greek mythology, beat a pair of copulating serpents, for which the gods used him to settle an argument about which sex derived more pleasure. So he was changed into a woman. Seven years later he came across another two snakes and didn't make the same mistake a second time, which turned him back into a man. The Italian says che rïavesse le maschili penne, "he had again his male feathers", but penne- feathers, sounds very close to pene- penis, so I translated it; he reacquired his masculinity.  

Then Virgil points out Aruns, from Lucan's Pharsalia, a seer who predicts civil war, but hides his prediction in ambiguities. His cave dwelling is meant to show that he didn't look at the stars to dwell among them (in the heavens), but only to better divine what would happen on earth. 

Next Virgil points out the witch Manto, who was the namesake of his hometown of Mantua. He goes through a protracted portion of the canto explaining how she left her hometown, and came to Mantua. He traces the waters in the alps to Lake Garda, then down through Peschiera to the Mincio river, where it becomes a swamp, before running by the town of Governolo before dumping into the Po river. Mantua was an uninhabited and uncultivated land where Manto sets up with her servants. Eventually the men there build a city with no other choice but Mantua for the name. 

Virgil says it used to have more people until Alberto da Casalodi was duped by Pinamonte dei Bonacolsi into exiling the other aristocratic families. Once Casalodi was alone, Pinamonte kicked him out and took power. Then Virgil ends by swearing that it's true, and if Dante hears a different story, it's a lie that would defraud him of the truth. 

Dante responds that he is fully convinced of the truth of Virgil's story. Then he asks if Virgil would point out any in the ditch that would be worthy of notice.  

Virgil further points out Eurypylus, a seer in Greece that told them when he thought the exact moment for sailing to war would be. 

He points out Michael Scot, who had made prophecies about Italy in the court of Frederick II. 

Virgil mentions Guido Bonatti, an astrologer from Forlì, but Virgil says nothing more about him.  

He also mentions Asdente, meaning "toothless", who was a shoemaker, hence one who "understood leather and twine, and now would return, but repents too late". 

He also points out women who left their work to instead try and cast evil spells with herbs and images. 

Finally, Virgil says it's time to move on, in another baffling way: 

Ma vienne omai, ché già tiene ’l confine  d’amendue li emisperi e tocca l’onda  sotto Sobilia Caino e le spine; 

This literally is translated: 

"But come now, because already it keeps the border  of both the hemispheres and touches the waves  over Seville, Cain and his thorns." 

Uh, wut? 

So apparently the "it" is the moon. The moon was also apparently represented as Cain, carrying his thorns, as part of his punishment and banishment from Eden. So putting it all together, the moon is laying where both the hemispheres meet, just over the waves, or horizon, at Seville, to the west.  

If you understand all that.... which I didn't.... it should equate to about 6am. Well, why didn't he just say that? 

Canto XXI  Eighth circle: fifth ditch- graft (public corruption, as compared to ecclesiastical corruption with simony) 

Dante leads this canto off with an almost off-handed comment that he and Virgil, as they were walking along, talked about all kinds of things, but those topics don't concern this story, so they won't be included. Why put this into the poem? It's meant to add realism to the account, and give the impression that this journey actually happened. And just like there would be moments in any journey that wouldn't really be worth recalling, there were in this one too. 

As the travelers come to the next ditch, Dante tells us that it was really dark. He uses the images of the working on a shipyard, and using tar to seal up any gaps between the planks, to describe the boiling pitch in which the sinners are tossed in this ditch. But this inclusion of the workings of the shipyard is much more detailed, and it sort of begs the question: why did he go into explaining how the Venetian shipyards worked? The answer may be to act as a counterpoint to the sin described in this ditch. The Venetian shipyard, where each is involved in a meaningful work that contributes to the whole, contrasts the corruption of graft, where individuals pervert the working order for personal gain.  

Virgil then tells Dante to look over at a certain place, while pulling Dante back out of the way. Dante is petrified and sees a winged demon carrying a sinner by the thighs by gripping him with the claws of his feet. The demon tosses the sinner into the pitch while telling his fellow demon he is one of the elders of Santa Zita, meaning the city of Lucca. The demon is both vicious and yet somewhat humorous as he tells the other demon to stow this one below while he goes back for more, since the city is plenty stocked with bribe takers, except "Bonturo". This Bonturo was apparently the greatest bribe taker of all, even though he claimed he had cleaned up the city and the corrupt practices of his predecessors. So the demon is mocking him by saying all the officials, except Bonturo, will change their answers from no to yes for a price. Dante describes the sinner being tossed into the pitch, disappearing, the bobbing back up.  The demons sarcastically mock the guy by yelling at him that the "Holy Face", that of Jesus (they are referring to the sinner's head as looking like the wooden statue of Jesus at the San Martino church because his skin is now covered in tar), has no place here in hell. Then they taunt him that he can't go swimming here like he would in the Serchio river, where the citizens of Lucca would go swimming during hot days. They threaten that he'd better not pop his head up again or they sink their hooks into him. Then they DO stab him and mock him again saying: You'd better dance (take your bribes) in secret here and grab (the cash) in hiding. Dante notes that as cooks' helpers push the meat back down into the sauce if it floats to the surface, so these demons would push the sinners back down if they tried to come up for air.  

Virgil tells Dante to hide for a moment while he negotiates with the demons, so Dante crouches behind a rock. The Virgil presents himself before the demons, who rush out at him. But he confronts them by saying: Let none of you be malicious towards me. Before anyone tries to snag me with their hook, send out a leader to talk to me. After that, take counsel if they care to proceed. 

The demons send out Malacoda, 'eviltail', while questioning what Virgil thinks he will accomplish with this parlez. Virgil launches in on Malacoda, asking him if Malacoda things that he, Virgil, would be here unless it were the will of heaven, and favored fate? Let them pass since this is God's will, so that he can show another the savage path through hell.  

Then Malacoda, pretending to be humbled, drops his hook, and tells the other demons not to harm Virgil. Virgil calls Dante out, who quickly comes to Virgil and holds as close to him as he possibly can. 

Dante notes that he once seen soldiers that had occupied the castle at Caprona, given a pass to vacate the place as part of a plea deal. They were allowed to leave unmolested, but showed themselves to be quite afraid as they left surrounded by a hostile army. Dante himself felt like this as he saw the malicious look in the faces of the demons. In fact, one of the demons says to another, "Want me to smack him on the rump?", and the others say, "Yeah, give him one!" But Malacoda, the principle demon, told him: "Scarmiglione, (Crumplehead) don't do it!" 

Then Malacoda offers passage by telling Virgil that they can't go any further since the next bridge has been demolished. He says while that bridge is busted, there is another further on. He even gives an exact date: Yesterday, five hours later than the current one of today, and 1266 years ago, the bridge was broken. This would correspond to earthquake when Jesus came down into Hell. So, Malacoda, proposes, he was going to send some of his boys over that way anyway, to check and see if any sinners were 'displaying themselves'- popping up out of the pitch- and since they were going that way, they could accompany Virgil and Dante to make sure nothing happens to them. Malacoda promises that the demons won't trouble them at all. 

Then he calls up ten different demons, the names of which mean (loosely, according to Anthony Esolen): 

Alichino- Harlequin  Calcabrina- Tramplefrost  Cagnazzo- Larddog  Barbariccia- Curlybeard  Libicocco- Stormbreath  Draghignazzo- Dragonsnout  Ciriatto- Swinetooth  Graffiacane- Dogscratcher  Farfarello- Gobgoblin  Rubicante- Redfroth 

Then Malacoda tells the demons to take a look around the pitch (for any sinners popped up), so Virgil and Dante would be safe until the ridge which crosses over. It seems safe to assume that when he tells the demons to keep Virgil and Dante safe "until" that point, he is giving the demons permission to attack them at that point. Part of the punishment of this ditch is that these demons are tricksters. There is a constant back and forth between the grafters who committed fraud, and their demonic counterparts, so that nothing can ever be trusted. Malacoda himself deceives Virgil by sandwiching a lie(that there is another bridge over the ditch further on), between two truths, the first being that the bridge is demolished, and the second so specific- the timing of the destruction of the bridge- that it makes it easy to corroborate, and therefore accept the entirety.  

Dante is not reassured at all, and begs Virgil to refuse the escort and go alone. Virgil tells him not to worry, the demons are just happy about the possibility of poking more sinners, not about attacking them. Then a humorous incident occurs to end the canto: they demons all turn towards Malacoda and put their tongues between their teeth, signaling to him, at which point, elli avea del cul fatto trombetta, he made a trumpet of his ass. 

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Jane Eyre- Margolin Bastian Edition

I bought a new Jane Eyre edition this year because it looked cool. But I was surprised by the additional elements included in it: various letters or supplementary materials included with the book to augment the experience. I'll post a few pics of the book here, but I'll continue to post a few more pics of the supplementary materials as I get there in the reading.

It's a really nicely done hardcover book. It may be the fifth edition I've bought of Jane Eyre, but this one is super nice. The last one had lots of essay-length commentary about the story included at the end... much of which seemed dubious to me, but hey, everybody is entitled to their opinions, and god bless 'em for trying to see things from a different angle. I'll probably comment less on the story this time, and just focus on the details of the book itself.

[thetldrplace]

Capital Vol 1 Sec 8

Part 8: So-Called Primitive Accumulation 

This is the last section of the book, so this post will conclude the notes and summary from Capital Vol 1.

Chap 26: The Secret of Primitive Accumulation  In order for capitalism to have arisen, there must have already been some that had the means to buy labor power, and others that could be that labor power. How did this situation happen. Marx says: "Never mind! It came to pass that the former sort accumulated wealth, and the latter sort finally had nothing to sell but their own skins." Despite this, he proposes that capitalist society grew out of feudal society. The dissolution of feudalism set the peasants free, but without land to provide for them, all they had was their own labor to sell. The immediate producer that worked the land could only dispose of his own labor as he wished when he was no longer bound to the soil. To become a perfectly free seller of his own labor power, he would need to be free also from the guilds and their restrictive regulations. 

Hence, the historical movement which changes producers (the serfs producing on farms) into wage-laborers is their emancipation from serfdom and the fetters of guilds. These men could only become sellers of themselves once they had been stripped of their own means of production and all the guarantees of existence afforded by the old feudal arrangement.  

Chap 27: The Expropriation of the Agricultural Population from the Land  This chapter is essentially a more particular look into the process outlined in the last chapter, of peasant farmers being released from feudalism. 

Chap 28: Bloody Legislation against the Expropriated since the End of the Fifteenth Century.  The Forcing Down of Wages by Act of Parliament. The proletariat created by the dissolving of feudal estates were turned loose in society, as free, but now without means. Many could not adapt to the discipline of this new condition and in massive quantities, were turned into beggars, robbers, and vagabonds. To counteract this new wave of crime, the governments enacted brutal legislation against vagabondage throughout western Europe. Some instances are detailed in this chapter. 

Marx then looks at wage laws passed during the time. He mentions a compulsory extension of the work-week; wage ceilings set, and higher penalties on taking higher wages than on receiving them. 

In the sixteenth century, wages rose, but not in proportion to the depreciation of money and corresponding rise in prices of commodities. Real wages therefore fell. 

Chap 29: The Genesis of the Capitalist Farmer  The capitalist farmer developed originally from small farmers, not too much distinct from peasants, but who, provided with seed, cattle and farm implements from a landlord, could employ labor to help him farm. He next became a sharecropper, dividing the crop yields with the landlord and himself. But soon enough, he has enough to pay rent to the landlord and simply farm the produce for himself. During subsequent centuries of land reform and agricultural revolution, he was able to usurp land without cost. There was subsequently a devaluation of money so that he was able to pay less to his workers. 

Chap 30: Impact of Agricultural Revolution on Industry. The Creation of a Home Market for Industrial Capital.  Short chapter repeating the charge that the displacement of agricultural workers meant a mass of people desperately looking for work and therefore ripe for exploitation. 

Chap 31: The Genesis of the Industrial Capitalist  Continuation of chap 26's hypothesis. But adding credit. The middle ages, says Marx, handed down two forms of capital: usury and merchant. The money capital formed by usury and commerce was prevented by organization of the countryside and guilds in towns from turning into industrial capital. But the dissolution of feudalism released those fetters. But particularly it was the system of credit that was developed in Genoa and Venice that took hold in Europe. The national debt became the benchmark of national wealth. Credit became the credo of capitalism. 

Chap 32: The Historical Tendency of Capitalist Accumulation  This is a good recap of where Marx has gotten to. The expropriation of immediate producers; serfs on feudal lands, of private property based on the labor of its owner is the start. Private property, as the antithesis to social, collective property, exists only where the means of labor and the external conditions of labor belong to private individuals. The private property of the worker in his means of production is the foundation of small-scale industry. It is necessary for the development of social production and of the free individuality of the worker himself.  It flourishes, unleashes the whole of its energy, attains its classical form only where the peasant owns the land he cultivates, or the artisan owns the tool with which he is accomplished performer. This mode presupposes the fragmentation and dispersal of the means of production. But this is narrow and will decree universal mediocrity. This will bring the material means of its own destruction. It has to be annihilated and it will. Fragmented means of production will be concentrated. As soon as the capitalist mode of production takes off, the further socialization and transformation of means occurs. The expropriation of labor further centralizes and one capitalist strikes down others. Exploitation grows and so does the revolt of the working class. Eventually the whole system collapses. 

Chap 33: The Modern Theory of Colonization  Not gonna say much here. Marx goes through some examples of capitalist oppression with the British East India Company. 

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Capital Vol 1 Sec 7- Marx

Part 7: The Process of Accumulation of Capital 

Chap 23: Simple Reproduction  Whatever the social form of the production process, it has to be continuous. Every social process of production is at the same time a process of reproduction. It does this by reconverting part of its products into means of production, or elements of fresh production. If production has a capitalist mode, so too will reproduction. 

The purchase of labor-power is the prelude to the production process. The worker produces not only surplus value used by the capitalist for himself, but also variable capital, the fund out of which he himself is paid before it flows back to him in the form of wages. Marx calls this the labor fund. 

This characteristic is true in constant renewal, but had, of course, to start somewhere. The capitalist originally had to have some fund accumulated which allowed him to enter the market as a buyer of labor-power. But this simple reproduction brings about remarkable transformations that seize hold not only of variable, but total capital.  

Marx makes much of the fact that the capitalist constantly gains, while the worker leaves with nothing more than he started, and is further deprived of any way of accumulating wealth for himself. He constantly produces wealth, only to be exploited and dominated by the capitalist. 

The individual consumption of the worker remains an aspect of the production and reproduction of capital. The fact that the worker performs acts of individual consumption in his own interest, and not to please the capitalist, is something entirely irrelevant to the matter. The maintenance and reproduction of the working class remains a necessary condition for the reproduction of capital. 

The capitalist process of production, therefore, seen as a total, connected process (of production, reproduction), produces not only commodities and surplus value, but the capital-relation itself: on one hand the capitalist, and on the other, the wage-laborer. 

Chap 24: The Transformation of Surplus-Value into Capital  1. Capitalist Production on a Progressively Increasing Scale. The Inversion which Converts the Property Laws of Commodity Production into Laws of Capitalist Appropriation  2. The Political Economists' Erroneous Conception of Reproduction on an Increasing Scale  3. Division of Surplus Value into Capital and Revenue. The Abstinence Theory  4. The Circumstances which, Independently of the Proportional Division of Surplus Value into Capital and Revenue, Determine the Extent of Accumulation, namely, the Degree of Exploitation of Labor Power, the Productivity of Labor, the Growing Difference the Amount between Capital Employed and Capital Consumed, and the Magnitude of the Capital Advanced.  5. The So-Called Labor Fund 

In the first section, Marx intends to show how the progressively larger scale of capitalist production are demonstrated by an inversion which converts the property laws of commodity production into laws of capitalist appropriation. 

Capital arises from surplus value. Accumulation simply takes what was made before and adds to it progressively. 

The property laws of commodity production Marx seems to refer to are the laws of private property, or appropriation. The original form of exchange was an exchange of commodities between two workers who produced a useful and desired item. In that arrangement, the worker had exclusive rights to the product of his own labor. But when money is exchanged for labor, the wage hides the fact that unpaid labor is being given to one side. The laws of exchange were that one side sold his labor, and the other buys it. But this application of the law allows the capitalist to appropriate surplus value to himself. This allows the capitalist to progressively grow his capital, while the worker remains rooted in subsistence. 

In the second section, Marx confronts the notion by Smith and Ricardo that the accumulated wealth is subsequently spent in the consumption of the surplus by productive workers. Marx finds this preposterous because it doesn't bother to delve into the difficulties we are left with when we accept this conclusion. 

In this section, Marx states that he had, in a previous chapter, treated surplus capital as a fund for satisfying the capitalist's individual consumption requirements, this is called 'revenue'. In this chapter so far, it is treated as a fund for accumulation, this is called 'capital'. But it is both, and the ratio of what is used for his pleasure and what is saved is according to his will. The capitalists is only tangentially concerned with the enjoyment of use value; he is mainly concerned with the acquisition and augmentation of exchange value. In laymen's terms, he cares a little about using his money to enjoy himself, but he cares most about stacking up the amount so he can brag about it. The struggle for accumulation also leads to the capitalist considering that his own usage is money out of his accumulation. However, as his riches grow, the capitalist gets rich, not out of his own restricted consumption (abstinence),  but by squeezing as much as possible from workers and compelling them to abstain from all enjoyments of life. 

In the fourth section, Marx treats the circumstances which will determine the extent of accumulation apart from the ways the capitalist uses his own surplus. Marx outlines 4 separate ways: how much labor is exploited; how productive labor is; the growing difference between how much capital is employed and how much used, and finally the amount of capital advanced. 

The exploitation of labor hardly needs more verbiage here. But Marx insists that if labor is more productive, it cheapens labor, and even if real-wages are rising, they never rise in proportion to the productivity of labor. Even in machinery, old forms are replaced by newer, more productive forms. An English spinner and a Chinese spinner may put in the same intensity and length of hours in spinning. But the English spinner's product will be far greater because he is working an immense machine, whereas the Chinese spinner is working with a spinning wheel. 

Marx notes that current means of production are results of past exploitation of labor. These are nonetheless disguised as means of production, which adds to the increasing difference between capital employed and capital used. 

The last point is that given the degree of exploitation of labor power, the mass of surplus-value is determined by the number of workers exploited, therefore, the magnitude of capital advanced to buy labor power will proportionately increase the surplus value generated by the increased number of laborers. 

The last section covers the labor fund, which is the term Marx gives to that portion of variable capital used for employing the labor force. Marx confronts the statement by some economists that the labor fund was of some sort of fixed size. Apparently there was a belief, at least as Marx outlines it, that said the labor fund could only be increased at the expense of the revenue of the rich. 

Chap 25: The General Law of Capitalist Accumulation  1. A Growing Demand for Labor-Power Accompanies Accumulation if the Composition of Capital Remains the Same  2. A Relative Diminution of the Variable Part of Capital Occurs in the Course of the Further Progress of Accumulation and of the Concentration Accompanying it  3. The Progressive Production of a Relative Surplus Population or Industrial Reserve Army  4. Different Forms of Existence of the Relative Surplus Population. The General Law of Capitalist Accumulation.  5. Illustrations of the General Law of Capitalist Accumulation    (a) England 1846 to 1866    (b) The Badly Paid strata of the British Industrial Working Class    (c) The Nomadic Population    (d) Effect of Crises on the Best Paid Section of the Working Class    (e) The British Agricultural Proletariat    (f) Ireland 

The first point Marx wants to make is that accumulation of capital will grow demand for more labor. This growth of capital will have an impact on the working class. Marx divides capital into constant capital- the value of the means of production; and variable capital- the wages for labor. The demand for labor will increase as capital grows. If the demand for labor outstrips supply, wages will rise. But despite this, labor must be reproduced and grow. It cannot get free of capital, and its "enslavement to capital is only concealed by the variety of individual capitalists to whom it sells itself". Accumulation of capital is therefore multiplication of the proletariat. Marx calls this an "eternal relation". 

The second point is that the amount of capital reserved for purchasing labor must diminish as accumulation concentrates. One of the ways this is achieved is through the accumulation of machines that render the individual worker more productive. The more machines can do, the less labor is needed to produce the same amount. Marx calls this a law of progressive growth of the constant part of capital (constant being his term for the portion set apart to means of production), in comparison with the variable part (wages set aside for labor). 

Marx looks at the societal-wide picture and notes that accumulation occurs independently in lots of individual capitalists. Some even offshoot and grow apart from the original capitalists. These all compete. But at the same time, this fragmentation is countered by their attraction. Capitalists will subsume others and eventually concentrate in fewer hands. 

While Marx says he can't elucidate more here, he does give a few basics: competition is fought by cheapening commodities. Smaller producers can't manufacture at the scale of the larger, and will therefore always lose to the larger. Marx notes that the credit system here plays a part too.  

Marx also notes a distinction between centralization and concentration.  

Concentration is accumulation of capital into ever larger amounts, whereas centralization is the absorption of smaller capital into larger scale business. The effect of this on labor is the absolute reduction of the need for labor given the concentration in the already more mechanized and therefore less labor intensive large-scale factories. 

In the third section, the result of the accumulation and centralization of capital is a larger surplus of excess labor. This translates to a lot of people out of work and hungry to find any kind of job. They are ripe for exploitation. Marx also notes here the boom/bust cycles built into this mode of capitalist production. But the reason why this surplus of labor is so important to capitalism, is precisely to take advantage of the boom/bust cycles. They can take advantage of it when times are good, so they can weather the times that are bad.  

The general movement of wages is exclusively regulated by the expansion and contraction of the labor market. 

The fourth section tackles the different forms that the surplus population takes: floating, latent, and stagnant. 

Floating is when workers are put out of work, then called back, depending on the demands of capital. But that's not to say they are the same workers. Capital likes 'em young, so they are employed until maturity, then let go. They tend to move and follow capital where they can get work. 

The flow of workers from rural to towns supposes there is a latent population that exists, only evident when opportunity opens up. 

The third is the stagnant population, with very irregular employment. These are the lowest paid, and most overworked and will take nearly anything. It constantly recruits from the segments that have found themselves redundant. This segment of the population is an ever growing, self-perpetuating and self-reproducing element. 

The lowest element is the sphere of pauperism. Apart from vagabonds, prostitutes, and criminals, this strata consists of three categories: those able to work, orphans and pauper children, and those unable to work. 

Capitalism is a system in which the worker does not employ the means of production, but the means of production employ the worker. The law is that a constantly increasing quantity of means of production by a decreasing expenditure of human power completely inverts: the higher the productivity of labor, the greater the pressure on their means of employment, the more precarious the condition of their existence. 

As capital accumulates, the situation for labor grows worse. The accumulation of misery is a necessary condition to the accumulation of wealth. 

The fifth section is a series of illustrations of what Marx has been saying, taken from different places and times. It contains 68 pages of charts and evidence that would be way too detailed to cover in a short recap like this. 

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Capital Vol 1 Sec 6

Part 6: Wages 

Chap 19: Transformation of the Value of Labor-Power into Wages  Wages appear as the price of labor- a certain amount of money paid for a certain quantity of labor.  

But the value of a commodity is the "objective form of the social labor expended in its production". And the quantity of that value is measured by the quantity of labor contained in it. But, Marx says, this leads to the absurd tautology that the value of a 12 hour work day is determined by the 12 working hours contained in it.  

Labor must exist even before it is sold as a commodity. But if it were endowed with independent existence, it would be a commodity and not labor. In fact, it's not labor that directly confronts the possessor of money on the commodity market, it is the worker. But as soon as his labor begins, it is no longer his and can no longer be sold by him. Labor is the substance, but has no value itself. 

Marx repeats the previous assertions that whatever the necessary amount labor to reproduce the worker is the necessary labor, and any labor above that is the surplus value, cheated from the laborer, and done for the benefit of the capitalist.  

Chap 20: Time-Wages  Wages take many forms. The transformation in the value of labor-power into wages is based on the laws outlined in chap 17. Marx, in this chapter, discusses how the valuation is broken up into various time units of day, week or hour. The basic point is that by pricing wages, the capitalist hides what is necessary labor- enough for the worker to reproduce the commodity, and what is surplus labor, which represents time the worker is being cheated to labor for the benefit of the capitalist. In the old corvee system, where serfs would work part time on the master's land, and part time on their own, at least it was openly seen. But capitalism hides the fact by stating a wage that the worker will earn, as if it is all for him. 

Chap 21: Piece-Wages  Piece wage is nothing more than a calculation converted from the time wage to the average value of what it would take to produce the commodity per piece. Marx does mention that under this type of work, supervision is rendered superfluous, since laborers will work as fast as possible to get paid more in less time. 

Chap 22: National Difference in Wages  Marx discusses the corrosive effect capitalist England has had on surrounding nations.  

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Capital Vol 1 Sec 5

Part 5: Absolute and Relative Surplus Value 

Chap 16: Absolute and Relative Surplus-Value  In so far as the labor process is purely individual, the same worker unites in himself all the functions that are later separated. He alone supervises his activity. The solitary man operates on nature by calling his own muscles into play under the control of his brain. But as the division of labor takes place, these are separated and develop into hostile antagonism. 

Capitalist production isn't just the production of commodities, it is, by is very essence, the production of surplus value. The worker produces not for himself, but for capital. To be a productive worker isn't a piece of luck, but of misfortune. 

The prolongation of the working day beyond the point at which the worker has produced an exact equivalent for the value of his labor-power, and the appropriation of that surplus labor by capital, is what constitutes absolute surplus value. This turns exclusively on the length of the working day. 

The production of relative surplus-value revolutionizes the technical processes of labor and the groupings into which society is divided. Relative surplus-value takes place when capitalism is fully developed and has conquered all the branches of production. It basically looks like capitalism's drive to decrease necessary work time, in order to increase surplus value. 

Chap 17: Changes of Magnitude in the Price of Labor-Power and in Surplus-Value  1. The Length of the Working Day and the Intensity of Labor Constant; the Productivity of Labor Variable  2. The Length of the Working Day and the Productivity of Labor Constant; the Intensity of Labor Variable  3. The Productivity and the Intensity of Labor Constant; the Work Day Length Variable  4. Simultaneous Variations in the Duration, Productivity and Intensity of Labor 

The value of labor-power is determined by the value of the means of subsistence habitually required by the average worker. The quantity of the means of subsistence can be treated as a constant magnitude. What changes is the value of this quantity. Assuming commodities are sold at their value, and the price of labor-power occasionally rises above its value, but never sinks below it, the relative magnitudes of surplus value and the price of labor power are determined by the first three circumstances outlined above. So the three factors are the length of the working day, the intensity of the labor, and the productivity of the labor. 

In the first scenario, the length of the working day and the intensity of the labor are constant, but the productivity of labor varies. A working day of a given length always creates the same amount of value, regardless of the productivity of labor. The value created remains the same, it is just spread over more or less commodities. Secondly, the value of labor-power and surplus value vary in opposite directions. If the surplus value goes up, the labor-power value goes down by the same rate. 

Increase or decrease in surplus value is always the consequence, and never the cause, of the corresponding level of the value of labor power. How much the price of labor-power falls depends on the struggle between capitalist and worker, but increasing productivity can mean both capitalist and worker get more. 

The second scenario is when the length of the working day and the productivity are constant, but the intensity of the labor is variable. Increased intensity means increased expenditure of labor in a given amount of time. There is more output and more value produced, but no change in the value per unit, since there is a rise in labor cost. 

The third scenario is when productivity and intensity are constant, but the work day length increases. 

If the work day is shortened, the value of labor power remains the same and surplus value is reduced, and inversely, if the length of the work day is increased, surplus value increases. Both price of labor power and surplus value can increase, but depends on the struggle between capital and workers. 

The fourth scenario is coverage of two combinations that can occur when all three are variable. 

The first is diminishing productivity with simultaneous lengthening of the work day. Lengthening the work day will compensate for the diminished productivity.  

The second covers the case where the work day can be shortened if an increase in intensity and productivity occurs. 

Chap 18: Different Formulae for the Rate of Surplus-Value  These I'm going to leave untouched. Marx gives several possible formulas for arriving at the rate of surplus value, which, to be honest, the math doesn't interest me very much. 

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Capital Vol 1 Sec 4

Part 4: The Production of Relative Surplus Value 

Chap 12: The Concept of Relative Surplus-Value  The portion of a worker's workday that produces his subsistence has been treated as a constant. Marx has formulated a workday as A-------B---C, where A-B is the necessary labor, and B-C is the surplus-labor where the capitalist makes his money. Since there are limits to how long the work-day can be, how can surplus labor be prolonged without actually prolonging the work day itself? The answer is to reduce the necessary labor time, so that in, for example, a 10 hour work day, only 5 hours are needed rather than 7. That way, the capitalist can get 5 hours of surplus labor, rather than only 3.  

The conditions of production must be changed so that the worker can effectively increase his productivity. Marx calls the surplus value produced by lengthening the work-day: absolute surplus value; and the surplus value that is produced by curtailing the necessary labor time: relative surplus value. 

Each capitalist will be driven to maximalize profits by extracting as much value as possible, so he will naturally look for ways to decrease necessary labor time, but as soon as any new, more productive measure becomes generally known and employed, then the bar resets and competitors are likewise reducing their necessary labor time as well, resulting in no advantage over the others. 

Chap 13: Cooperation  Capitalist production only begins when a comparatively large number of workers are employed on an extensive scale. The handicraft trades and manufacture don’t differ tremendously in the mode of production, but mostly in the scale. This means at first, the difference is quantitative. 

But a modification does take place. Labor objectified is a social quality; kind of an average. Each individual worker will vary to some degree from the 'average', but the capitalist will pay workers according to the average. Inequalities cancel out with larger numbers. But there is a further evolution as a large number of workers are employed in the labor process together. Marx gives the example: 20 weavers in a large room, will cost the owner less on one large building, than 20 weavers working 2 apiece in 10 small buildings. So when the means of production are used in common, they give up a smaller portion of their value to each single product. The effect is the same as if the means of production had cost the capitalist less. 

But there is a further benefit of bringing together large amounts of labor to work together according to a plan: cooperation. This effectively creates a new productive power, an intrinsically collective power. 

It creates a bit of rivalry that heightens the efficiency of each individual. This power is derived from cooperation itself, and when individuals work this way, 'he strips off the fetters of his individuality, and develops capabilities of his species'. 

Cooperation of course, brings labor together, which means the capitalist must have the means to employ a large number of workers. While the subjection of labor to capital is partly a result of the fact that the worker works for the capitalist, the cooperation, and then command of, large numbers of laborers develops into a real requirement for production. 

Naturally, bringing together large groups of individuals requires leadership at various levels, but it also naturally evolves into the workers themselves uniting to resist any exploitation. Marx says this produces an inevitable antagonism between the exploiters and the exploited. 

Interestingly enough, the cooperation of laborers is brought about exclusively by the capital that employs them. Their unity is outside them, and outside their competence. Workers are independent of each other in a way; they are employed by the owner, and they enter into a relation with him, but not with each other. 

But there is a socially productive power of labor when workers are placed under certain conditions, and it is capital which places them under these conditions. It therefore appears as a productive power inherent in capital itself. 

Marx notes historic examples of mass labor cooperation, such as the building of the pyramids. In such examples, the kings had to have the surplus of food or subsistence in order to employ masses of men.  

He notes more primitive examples of cooperation, such as indian communal efforts, but they differ in the fact that means of production were owned in common, and man was not considered as individual in such societies. 

Chap 14: The Division of Labor and Manufacture  1. The Dual Origin of Manufacture  2. The Specialized Worker and His Tools  3. The Two Fundamental Forms of Manufacture- Heterogenous and Organic  4. The Division of Labor in Manufacture and the Division of Labor in Society  5. The Capitalist Character of Manufacture 

Cooperation based on division of labor finds its classic form in manufacturing. Manufacture originates in two ways: the first is assembling workers belonging to a trade under one capitalist, who then has each tradesman perform a specific task in building the commodity. While this results in producing more of the commodity, it also means the individual workmen lose their proficiency in the areas of that work they aren't employed in. The second way is to assemble large numbers of workers who all do the same work. So manufacture arises out of combining independent trades so that they lose their independence, but it also arises from the cooperation of craftsmen in their particular handicraft. 

A specialized worker who performs the same activity, rather than various tasks, will take less time doing his individual task. Continued repetition teaches him how to do the thing in the quickest way possible with minimal effort. Cooperation of workers in the same task will also generate the quickest ways to do things as each can learn from the others. Further, workers engaged in doing various operations need to switch gears, but workers engaged in the same operation can do their one task without having to slow down. Tools also become more specialized and therefore, effective. 

Manufacture has two fundamental forms, which play different roles in the process of becoming large-scale industry. Marx uses the example of watch production. Even dividing up the labor process in watches, it works better to have the artisans perform their tasks at home, then things are assembled in a factory. This is still different than the independent craftsman, who works for his own customers. 

But another type of manufacture brings everything together in connected phases of development. In this type of manufacture, productive power is gained through cooperation. 

Each stage of the production is divided up. The result of one, is the start of the next. Which means that at each stage, the laborer must finish his work in the given time, for the next to begin his. The mutual interdependence of the workers compels each one to spend only the necessary time on his stage. The repetitive nature of these stages will eventually produce a socially acceptable timing. 

Marx then notes that the collective worker becomes an item of machinery in manufacture. The various operations performed in the production of a commodity make demands of various kinds. Workers will be divided, classified, and grouped according to their qualities and abilities. The natural endowments of each are the foundation on which the division of labor is built. The collective worker now possesses all the qualities necessary for production in an equal degree of excellence, and can expend them in the most economical way according to his individualized strengths. Even the deficiencies of the specialized worker become perfections when he is part of the collective. 

This division of skill will also develop a hierarchy of labor, which will develop a scale of wages. 

On the down-side, this also creates a class of unskilled laborers, which would be excluded by the nature of the handicraft industry, where ability in the whole process would be required. Where manufacture can develop specialty abilities, it can also make a specialty of the absence of all development- the unskilled laborer. 

The division of labor in manufacture requires a relatively developed division of labor in society in general. What this means is that society will have already developed a robust industry of various handicrafts, from which capital can pull trained workers. It will require a complete set of all the various industries necessary for the maintenance of society. It will also require a leader class, who will have enough money to be able to exert financial and leadership control. 

Marx says that an increased number of workers under the control of one capitalist is the natural starting point of both cooperation in general and manufacture in particular. And that the advantages of further division can only be obtained by adding numbers of workers. But the demand for more will be inevitable and it becomes a law that capital must continue to increase. 

The knowledge, judgment and will of formerly individual craftsmen will only be required for the workshop as a whole, and what is lost by those individuals is then concentrated in the capital which confronts them. The process of separation starts in cooperation, but in manufacture, begins to mutilate the individual into a fraction of himself. Manufacture does best when the mind is least consulted. The entire effect is to increase the productive power of labor for the benefit of the capitalist, at the expense of labor; and it does so by crippling the individual worker. 

Chap 15: Machinery and Large Scale Industry  1. The Development of Machinery  2. The Value Transferred by the Machinery to the Product  3. The Most Immediate Effects of Machine Production on the Worker     (a) Appropriation of Supplementary labor Power by Capital     (b) The Prolongation of the Working Day     (c) Intensification of Labor  4. The Factory  5. The Struggle between Worker and Machine  6. The Compensation Theory, with Regard to Workers Displaced by Machinery  7. Repulsion and Attraction of Workers through the Development of Machine Production  8. The Revolutionary Impact of Large-Scale Industry on Manufacture, Handicraft, and Division of Labor     (a) Overthrow of Cooperation Based on Handicrafts and the Division of Labor     (b) The Impact of the Factory System on Manufacture and Domestic Industries     (c) Modern Manufacture     (d) Modern Domestic Industry     (e) Transition from Modern Manufacture to Domestic Industry to Large-Scale Industry  9. The Health and Education Clauses of the Factory Acts  10. Large Scale Industry and Agriculture 

Machinery, says Marx, is intended to cheapen commodities, which has the consequence of shortening the part of the working day that the worker works for himself, and lengthening the part he gives to the capitalist for nothing. The machine is a means for producing surplus value. The machine is just a more complex tool, like what would be employed in handicrafts. Fully developed machinery consists of three parts: the motor mechanism, the transmitting mechanism, and the tool, or working machine. The working machine serves as the place where the industrial revolution took place. In large scale machinery, the tool isn't the implement of man, but man becomes a part of the machine. Large scale industry required advancements in everything around it too, because it was able to deliver goods on previously unknown scales. 

Marx says machinery is a part of constant capital, so it doesn't create any new value, but yields its own value to the product it serves to make. The less labor used in mechanical production, the less value it contributes to the product. In fact, the use of machinery exclusively to cheapen a product, is limited by the requirement that less labor must be expended in producing the machinery than is displaced by the machinery. If wages were to fall below the value of the machinery, the machinery would be of little value to the capitalist. 

Since machinery doesn’t typically require much muscle to run, the capitalist would prefer to use women or children to run the machines, which displaces the men. This has the effect of dragging the entire family into the factory and depreciates the value of the worker's labor.  

Where previously, the worker entered into a contract with the capitalist, now he sells his entire family to the capitalist and becomes a slave-dealer in the process. 

While machinery is powerful in shortening the time needed to produce a commodity, it also lengthens the working day beyond all natural limits, particularly since the physical demands aren't as great, and more docile women and children can be utilized. The fact that machines hardly need to stop, alongside the rapid production, means that each minute a machine isn't being utilized, is considered by the capitalist to be a loss. 

Marx discusses the factory in modern large-scale industry. Having removed the tools from the hands of the worker, the technical foundation on which the division of labor is eroded. Minding the various machines that produce the various steps is reduced to identical levels of work. 

The struggle between the capitalist and worker is really the relation of capital itself. In prior times, workers would occasionally rise up and smash machines that eliminated their jobs. But time and experience is teaching the worker to transfer their attacks from the means of production to the form of society that produces those instruments. 

Some bourgeois economists have argued that displaced workers from one industry are free to pursue other avenues because there is now more capital to invest in other areas. Marx argues 1) the amounts aren't equal; capital may invest in some new areas, but not enough to restore all the lost jobs, and 2) the displaced workers are now out of their trained proficiencies, so their labor, as a commodity, is now unskilled in new areas and therefore worth less. 

The transition from handicraft to factory work displaces workers in the handicraft, but can employ more workers in the expansion of factories. The problem Marx notes in this is that it results in periods of boom and bust, with devastating consequences to the labor force. The voracious appetite for raw materials has also had the effect of large industrial nations looking for raw materials in unprecedented scale in colonies, and consequently having deleterious effects in those countries as well. 

In the next section on the impact of machinery, Marx reiterates that machinery eliminates the cooperation of the workers when it was still handicrafts, and then the fact that scaling up production in the commodities requires a scaling up in surrounding industries as well. Then he illustrates his point with examples. Marx pays particular attention to the displacement of a large portion of the work-force, the drastic conditions under which the rest remain, and the moral and emotional and intellectual degradation they are forced into. He also highlights the pressures put on by the capitalists themselves, and the government to continually keep the workers in bondage. 

Marx next covers the inadequate regulatory attempts made to curb the abuses of capital and what he calls the fanatical responses of capital to avoid any responsibility. One example of a social cost is young boys recruited to mind the machines. They are dismissed at around 17, but because they have been turned into savages, and left uneducated, they are easily drawn into lives of crime. They are the consequence of the capitalist mode of production. Marx sees the various changes that result from the capitalist mode of production as all linked back to the root cause- capitalism itself. Marx ends the section warning that the ruin of handicraft by manufacture, and the progression to large-scale industry is inevitable and hastens on the eventual accrual of antagonism to a point of revolution. 

Marx finally looks forward to the future where large-scale industry takes over agriculture too. While he notes the fact that working outdoors will not have the same effects as workers trapped in unhealthy factories, the displacement of workers will likewise be felt in agriculture. 

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Capital Vol 1 Sec 3

Part 3: The Production of Absolute Surplus Value 

Chap 7: The Labor Process and the Valorization Process  1. The Labor Process  2. The Valorization Process 

In the labor process, Marx goes through a very basic definition of labor: the application of effort directed towards an end. 

He notes the simple elements of the labor process are 1) purposeful activity, 2) the object on which the labor is performed, and 3) the instruments of that work. 

He notes that the means of production include raw materials and tools, each of which may products of prior labor themselves. Finally he notes that the labor process  by which the capitalist consumes labor power exhibits two characteristic phenomena: first, the worker works under the control of the capitalist to whom his labor belongs; and second, the product is the property of the capitalist, not the worker, its immediate producer. 

The product made by the capitalist has use value, but this only concerns the capitalist in as much as it can 1) be exchanged for money, 2) be exchanged for more money than it cost him- surplus value. 

Value is determined by the amount of labor utilized to produce it. 

Marx then examines a situation where the costs to produce end up equal to the price for which the commodity can be sold. No surplus value has been created. He narrates that the hypothetical capitalist is incensed. He is not content with the fact that he has produced value and can be recompensed, for him, the point was profit. Marx derides the arrogance of the capitalist for wanting the extra value. 

Marx explains that a half day's labor from the worker would cover the costs for the commodity. But getting a full day's labor creates surplus value. So the capitalist takes advantage of the fact and uses labor to get more value out of the process than he put in. Marx calls the process of creating an equivalent value for which it can be sold as creating value. He calls creating surplus value- valorization. 

Marx sees the first as a process of creating value, the second as merely creating quantities of objectified labor. 

One video asks the question, which Marx is essentially asking too: Why does the capitalist get to keep the profit rather than the laborer, who created the product? The capitalist keeps the profit because he controls both the labor and the means of production, without which, the laborer wouldn't be able to produce anything.  

Chap 8: Constant Capital and Variable Capital  Marx spends 12 pages here to rename the process of creating value as 'constant capital', and the valorization process as 'variable capital'. He does this, not because the values that are required under constant capital will remain constant, but that they are necessary in order for the production process. If those values aren't met, there isn't any point in producing, since it is a loss. Variable capital will of course vary in amount depending on any number of factors. 

Chap 9: The Rate of Surplus Value  1. The Degree of Exploitation of Labor Power  2. The Representation of the Value of the Product by Corresponding Proportional Parts of the Product  3. Senior's Last Hour  4. The Surplus Product 

These were hard sections for me to follow, but in the first, covering the degree by which capitalists exploit labor, Marx starts with Capital beginning with the sum of money laid out on the means of production, plus money laid out on labor-power. At the end of the process, surplus-value gets added in, by having workers work for more hours than is necessary for their subsistence, which is an economic amount Marx considers necessary for them to remain alive and productive.  

For Marx, variable capital is the necessary labor, and surplus-value is the surplus labor. He goes through equations and examples to demonstrate that the worker employs more than half his day in producing surplus-value. The constant capital divided by the variable capital, gives you the rate of productivity. This shows you how much labor is needed to provide a commodity. The less labor needed, means a more valuable commodity, since you are producing the same price product for less money.  

If you measure the amount of surplus value divided by the amount of variable capital, this gives you the degree of exploitation.  

Then, if you divide the amount of surplus value by the amounts of both constant, and variable capital, you get the profit. The rate of profit will always be less than the rate of exploitation, which means that when workers complain of too much exploitation, the capitalist will respond the profits are really low, and they could both be right. 

The second section covers a breakdown of the product's value by proportions. Again, he uses examples and plugs in numbers to arrive at 80% of the price is captured in use-value. But Marx also notes that within that 80%, a portion of that is the labor employed. A further breakdown shows that about 66% of the price is recovering means of production, 14% in labor necessary for price equilibrium, and 20% in labor that generates surplus-value. 

The third section covers an analysis in 1836, by English economist Nassau Senior, in which he claims that in a mill where workers labor for 11.5 hour days, the mill only makes a profit on the last hour. Such that if a proposal to limit work days to 10 hours, the mill would lose money. Marx derides this a silly since the argument is predicated on an amount of raw materials based on a 12 hour day, rather than on a percentage of however many hours. If the mill were only operational for 10 hour days, rather than 12, the amount of the raw materials would shrink accordingly. The overall 20% that the capitalist would earn as surplus value on the work day would shrink by one sixth, but the 20% wouldn't change. 

The final section is only a few paragraphs, essentially stating that the relative magnitude of the surplus product is the important factor, not the absolute quantity of product produced. 

Chap 10: The Working Day  1. The Limits of the Working Day  2. The Voracious Appetite for Surplus Labor. Manufacturer and Boyar  3. Branches of English Industry without Legal Limits to Exploitation  4. Day Work and Night Work. The Shift System  5. The Struggle for a Normal Working Day. 14th to end of the 17th century  6. The Struggle for a Normal Working Day. 1833-64  7. The Struggle for a Normal Working Day. Impact on other countries. 

As Marx has discussed before, capital is derived from labor that goes above and beyond what is necessary for price equilibrium and worker maintenance. In this relatively long chapter, he discusses the length of the workday. Starting with the limits of the workday, the minimum would whatever is needed for worker maintenance. The maximum would of course be 24 hours, but recognizing that humans need rest, and food, etc, there is a necessary reduction from the 24 hours to meet those needs. 

Marx notes that workers were paid a set amount per day, as opposed to our hourly wage. Capital has one sole driving force- to valorize itself by creating surplus value. "Capital is dead labor which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labor, and lives the more, the more labor it sucks". If the worker consumes his disposable time for himself, he robs the capitalist. Accordingly, the capitalist will stand on the law of commodity exchange and try to extract the maximum possible benefit from the use-value of his commodity. Marx gives a worker side argument based on that principle: maximizing the value of my commodity. The argument is that while the capitalist wants to maximize as much value as possible, the worker should so as well. And since the commodity of the worker is his labor, then he should steward that as carefully and not put himself in the position of being ripped off. Since the capitalist has preached saving and abstinence, as operating principles for the worker, so the worker should save his commodity and not waste it foolishly. 

Marx notes the antinomy, the opposition of one rule to another, of right against right, both bearing the seal of the law of exchange. Between equal rights, force decides, and so ensues an extensive and meticulously documented recitation of abuses by capital against workers in the attempt to lengthen the work day and extract as much value as possible from labor. 

He starts with a pre-capital example of serfs working on land owned by another. In that example, the serf was compelled to work a set number of days on the owner's land, and the rest he could work his own land. At least in this arrangement, it was clear-cut when the serf was working for himself, and when he was working for the owner. 

But then Marx goes through a long series of cases documenting the attempts of labor to dial back the working day, and the attempts of capital to lengthen it. The cases are horrific, and it goes on for 72 pages. The ultimate point is that capital does this because it is inherent in its nature to demand as much as possible. 

Chap 11: The Rate and Mass of Surplus Value  Marx gets back to dry economics and formulas in this chapter. I'll skip the formulas and aim for the principles. Marx first lays out that there is a mass surplus value consisting of the surplus value times the number of workers. This is going to consist essentially of the number of hours worked by each worker times the number or workers, and increases in one or the other can offset decreases in the corresponding opposite. For example, you can decrease the number of workers by simply increasing the length of hours that the remaining workers put in.  

But since the extra hours squeezed out of one worker per day is more profitable than employing more workers, capital naturally gravitates towards squeezing as many hours out of as few workers as possible. 

Capital, as a summary, has developed until it had command over labor. Then it developed into a coercive relationship that could require workers to do more than necessary. This appeared without needing to change the productive process at all, all the capitalist did was extend the work day. 

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Capital Vol 1 Sec 2

Part 2: The Transformation of Money into Capital 

Chap 4: The General Formula for Capital  While money and the circulation took the form of C-M-C; so that commodities were made for a socially useful end, exchanged for money, which was then used to buy another commodity; there is an inverse form- M-C-M, where money is used to purchase a commodity, which is then resold for money. The first is selling in order to buy, the second is buying in order to sell. The distinction is that the first is motivated by a desire for the commodity, the second is motivated by the desire for money.  

It would be pointless to go through this if one ended up with the same amount of money, so the process is done in order to try and make a profit. But Marx sees something more insidious. Money circulates in both C-M-C, and M-C-M cycles, but the expenditure of money in CMC cycles has nothing to do with its reflux, whereas in MCM, the whole point is the reflux of the money. Consumption is the point of CMC, exchange value is the point of MCM. 

But as mentioned earlier, MCM would be pointless unless it were for a profit, or what Marx terms surplus-value. He assigns the sale for profit as MCM'. 

In the CMC cycle, the final goal is the satisfaction of needs by purchasing use-value. But the point of the MCM' cycle is the accrual of capital, and the one engaged in this is a capitalist. For Marx, one becomes a capitalist in the unceasing pursuit of more profit. 

Chap 5: The Contradictions in the General Formula  Marx notes that in an exchange of commodities, for example, a wine producer exchanges an equal amount with a corn producer, this exchange produces no increase of exchange value. The same holds true even if we use money in between. The wine producer can sell $100 dollars of wine to then buy $100 worth of corn. No increase in exchange value has occurred. Marx puts it another way: the exchange of commodities in an exchange of equivalents, not a method of increasing value. 

Marx then takes issue with economists who claim that the usual circulation of commodities produces surplus value. He claims that they are confusing use-value and exchange value. He cites Condillac who explains that no exchange takes place unless the buyer is convinced he is getting something worth 'more' than what he gave up. In basic terms- the buyer of wine would rather have the wine than either the corn or the money. Marx points out that while the buyer of wine sees a higher use-value in having the wine, there is no increase in exchange value, so still, there is no increase in surplus value. 

Marx furthermore posits that even in a case where the seller finds a buyer who overpays by 10%, resulting in 10% more for the seller, the seller in turn may overpay elsewhere by 10%, in which case we still don't have surplus value. Marx goes through various iterations of this, but essentially, system-wide, you can't simply overcharge or underpay your way to surplus value, so circulation per se can't explain surplus value. 

Marx notes that capital can't arise from circulation, AND it's equally impossible for it to rise apart from circulation. The transformation of money into capital must have its starting point in the exchange of equivalents must buy at their value, and sell and their value, and still withdraw more value from circulation than he started with. 

Chap 6: The Sale and Purchase of Labor Power  The change of money into capital, says Marx, can't occur in the circulation of money, which is the exchange of equivalents. The change must take place in the commodity itself, but not its value. The place to extract value is in labor-power.  

Labor power can be a commodity if the owner of it is willing to sell. He enters into an agreement with the buyer. He must be free to do so. The second condition is that beyond being able to sell his labor power, he must be compelled to do it. Such a man doesn't possess the means of production. He must be both free to sell his power, and have no other real commodity to sell, nothing else with which to get money. 

Marx goes into the fact that if labor is to be maintained, certain physical needs must be met: clothing and food and basic necessities so that the laborer can repeat the process of a day's labor the next day. 

He includes even replacement means- workers having kids so the workers can be replaced, in this equation, of which the minimum is called subsistence. Returning to an earlier concept, Marx also notes that labor, like any other commodity that remains unsold, is nothing.