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Poetry Summary: the Inferno, by Dante Alighieri, Canto X

Canto X, Circle Six, the Heretics: In this circle of Hell, Dante meets an old adversary, Farinata Degli Uberti, a great war-chief of the Tuscan Ghibellines. Dante meets a friend, Guido Cavalcanti's father, Cavalcante dei Cavalcanti.

Dante and Virgil walk along the rim of the dark city, the secret path between the walls and torments. The tomb lids are raised and in this corner of the morgue of wrath lie Epicurus and his followers, who make the soul share in the body's death. The central aim of Epicurus' philosophy was to achieve happiness, which he defined as the absence of pain. For Dante this doctrine meant the denial of the Eternal life, since the aim of the Epicurean was temporal happiness. Dante desires to speak to someone from Florence with who he could discuss politics. Many prominent Florentines were Epicureans.

A Tuscan recognizes Dante, and calls to him from a fiery tomb. The voice says he knows Dante from the noble city, Florence. It is Farinata rising from the flames. Farinata became leader of the Ghibellines. Farinata's arrogant desire to rule led to difficulties. Virgil to Dante suggests, "Mind how you speak to [Farinata]." Virgil wants Dante to show proper respect to such a majestic soul. Farinata and Dante's family were bitter enemies. They begin to talk politics, but are interrupted by another Shade, who rises from the same tomb.

The Shade to Dante cried, "You travel through this dungeon of the blind by power of genius, where is my son? Why is he not with you?" (58-60) This Shade is Cavalcante dei Cavalcanti was a famous Epicurean. Cavalcanti was the father of Guido Cavalcanti, a poet and friend of Dante. Cavalcanti mistakenly infers from Dante's reply that Guido is dead, and swoons back into the flames.

Farinata defends his part in Florentine politics, and explains how it is that the damned can foresee the future but have no knowledge of the present. Farinata explains by outlining an ingenious detail of the Divine Plan: the damned can see far into the future, but nothing of what is present or of what has happened. Thus, after Judgment, when there is no longer any Future, the intellects of the damned will be void.

Virgil and Dante bore left, turning their backs on the flaming wall, and passed deeper into the city of pain, "Along a track that plunged down like a scar into a sink which sickened us already with its stink" (135-137).

Canto X: Analysis:

Virgil and Dante "Go by a secret path along the rim of the dark city, between the wall and the torments" (1-2): Dante asks, "Tell me, [Virgil], is it permitted to see the souls within these tombs? The lids are raised, and no one stands on guard" (7-9). Virgil responds, "All shall be sealed forever on the day these souls return here from Jehosaphat with the bodies they have given once to clay. In this dark corner of the morgue of wrath lie Epicurus and his followers, who make the soul share in the body's death. And here you shall be granted presently not only your spoken wish, but that other as well, which you had thought perhaps to hide from me" (10-18).

Jehosaphat is a valley outside of Jerusalem. There was a popular belief that Jehosaphat would serve as the scene of the Last Judgment. Epicurus is a Greek philosopher. The central aim of Epicurus' philosophy was to achieve happiness, which he defined as the absence of pain. For Dante this doctrine meant the denial of the Eternal life, since the aim of the Epicurean was temporal happiness.

Virgil's reference to "Not only [Dante's] spoken wish, but that other as well" refers to Virgil's ability to read Dante's mind (17). The "Other wish" is Dante's desire to speak to someone from Florence with whom he could discuss politics. Many prominent Florentines were Epicureans.

As Virgil and Dante walk through, a Tuscan recognizes Dante, and calls to Dante from one of the fiery tombs. A Tuscan voice from the tomb to Dante asks, "O Tuscan, who go living through this place speaking so decorously, may it please [Dante] pause a moment on your way, for by the grace of that high speech in which I hear your birth, I know you for a son of that noble city which perhaps I vexed too much in my time on earth" (22-27).

Florence is in the province of Tuscany. Italian is a language of dialects, all of them readily identifiable even when they are not well understood. Dante's native Tuscan has become the main source of the modern Italian language of today. The reference to "That noble city" is Florence (26).

Virgil to Dante says, "Turn around. What are you doing? Look There: it is Farinata rising from the flames. From the waist up his shade will be made clear" (32-33). Farinata is Farinata degli Uberti, a great war-chief of the Tuscan Ghibellines. Farinata was the head of an ancient noble house of the Uberti.

Farinata became leader of the Ghibellines of Florence in 1239, and had a large part in expelling the Guelphs in 1248. The Guelphs returned in 1251, but Farinata remained in Florence. Farinata's arrogant desire to rule led to difficulties. Farinata was expelled in 1258. With the aid of Manfredi of Siena, Farinata gathered a force and defeated the Guelphs at Monteperti on the River Arbia in 1260. Farinata reentered Florence in triumph. Farinata expelled the Guelphs. However, at the Diet of Empoli, which was held by the victors after the battle of Montaperti, Farinata rose in open council to resist the general sentiment that Florence should be razed. Farinata died in Florence in 1264. In 1266, the Guelphs returned and crushed the power of the Uberti. The Guelphs destroyed the Uberti palaces and issued special decrees against persons of the Uberti line. In 1283, a decree of heresy was published against Farinata.

Dante's "Eyes were fixed on [Farinata] already. Erect [Farinata] rose above the flame, great chest, great brow; [Farinata] seemed to hold all Hell in disrespect" (34-35). Virgil to Dante suggests, "Mind how you speak to [Farinata]" (39). Virgil wants Dante to show proper respect to such a majestic soul. Virgil, as Human Reason, is urging Dante to proceed on his own. Those final words, "Mind how you speak," are an admonition to Dante to guide his speech according to the highest principles.

Farinata to Dante asks, "Of what line do you come?" (42) What is your family's lineage? Dante replies with information. Farinata responds, "Bitter enemies were [Dante's family] to me, to my fathers, and to my party, so that twice I sent [Dante's family] scattering from high Italy" (46-48). They begin to talk politics, but are interrupted by another Shade, who rises from the same tomb.

The Shade "Looked around [Dante] as if it expected to find through that black air that blew around [Dante], another traveler. And weeping when [the Shade] found no other there, turned back. The Shade to Dante cried, "You travel through this dungeon of the blind by power of genius, where is my son? Why is he not with you?" (58-60) This Shade is Cavalcante dei Cavalcanti was a famous Epicurean. Cavalcanti was the father of Guido Cavalcanti, a poet and friend of Dante. If it is genius that leads Dante on his great journey, the Shade asks, why is Guido not with him? Can Dante presume to be a greater genius than Guido?

Dante to Cavalcanti responds, "Not by myself am I borne this terrible way. I am led by [Virgil] who waits there, and whom perhaps your Guido held in scorn" (61-63). Dante's reply is a classical example of many-leveled symbolism as well as an overt criticism of a rival poet. Virgil is a symbol on many levels of Classicism, of religiosity, and of Human Reason. In response to Dante, Cavalcanti "Rose to his full height: "He held? What is it you say? Is he dead, then? Do his eyes no longer fill with that sweet light?" (67-69) "And when Cavalcanti saw that [Dante] delayed a bit in answering his question, he fell backwards into the flame, and rose no more from it" (70-72). Cavalcanti mistakenly infers from Dante's reply that Guido is dead, and swoons back into the flames.

Farinata, who has not deigned to notice his fellow-sinner, continues from the exact point from which he had been interrupted. Farinata to Dante says, "Men of my line have yet to learn that art, that burns me deeper than this flaming bed. But the face of her who reigns in Hell shall not be fifty times rekindled in its course before you learn what grief attend that art. And as you hope to find the world again, tell me: Why is that populace so savage in the edicts they pronounce against my strain?" (76-84) "Her who reigns in Hell" is Hecate or Proserpine, and is also the moon goddess (79). Farinata's prophecy is that Dante will be exiled within fifty full moons. Dante was banished from Florence in 1302, well within the fifty months of the prophecy.

Farinata defends his part in Florentine politics, and explains how it is that the damned can foresee the future but have no knowledge of the present. Farinata to Dante says, "We see asquint, like those whose twisted sight can make out only the far-off, for the Kill of All still grants us that much light. When things draw near, or happen, we perceive nothing of them. Except what others bring us we have no news of those who are alive. So may you understand that all we know will be dead forever from that day and hour when the Portal of the Future is swung to" (100-108).

Farinata explains by outlining an ingenious detail of the Divine Plan: the damned can see far into the future, but nothing of what is present or of what has happened. Thus, after Judgment, when there is no longer any Future, the intellects of the damned will be void.

Dante to Farinata asks, "Will you tell that fallen one who asked about his son, that he is not dead" (110-111). Dante to Farinata asks, "To name the others who lay with him in that chest" (116-117). Farinata to Dante says, "More than a thousand cram this tomb. The second Frederick is here, and the Cardinal of the Ubaldini. Of the rest let us be dumb" (119-120). Frederick is the Emperor Frederick II, one of honor, but he was reputed to be an Epicurean. The Cardinal of the Ubaldini became a Cardinal in 1245. The Cardinal, however, focused on money and political intrigue rather than religion. When the Cardinal was refused an important loan by the Ghibellines, the Cardinal remarked: "I may say that if I have a soul, I have lost it in the cause of the Ghibellines, and no one of them will help me now." The phrase, "If I have a soul" was enough to make him guilty in Dante's view of heresy.

Virgil and Dante bore left, turning their backs on the flaming wall, and passed deeper into the city of pain, "Along a track that plunged down like a scar into a sink which sickened us already with its stink" (135-137).

Work Cited:

Alighieri, Dante. The Inferno. Trans. John Ciardi. New York, New York: New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 1954. Print.