CIRCLE-CANTO

1. CIRCLE FIVE:CANTO 7-9
INFERN BY DANTE ALIGHIERI

3. Wrath and Sullenness (7-8)
Like the fourth circle of hell, the fifth circle--
presented in Inferno 7 and 8--contains two related
groups of sinners. But whereas avarice and
prodigality are two distinct sins based on the same
principle (an immoderate attitude toward material
wealth), wrath and sullenness are basically two
forms of a single sin: anger that is expressed
(wrath) and anger that is repressed
(sullenness). This idea that anger takes various
forms is common in ancient and medieval thought.
Note how the two groups suffer different
punishments appropriate to their type of anger--
the wrathful ruthlessly attacking one another and
the sullen stewing below the surface of the muddy
swamp (Inf.7.109-26)--even though they are all
confined to Styx.

4. Dante designates all of lower hell--circles 6
through 9, where more serious sins are punished--
as the walled city of Dis (Inf. 8.68), one of the
names for the king of the classical underworld
(Pluto) and--by extension--the underworld in
general. For Dante, then, Dis stands both for
Lucifer and the lower circles of his infernal realm.
It may be significant that Virgil--a classical poet
who refers to Dis in his Aeneid--is the one who
now announces the travelers' approach to Dis in
the Divine Comedy. Details of the city and its
surroundings in Inferno 8 and 9--including moats,
watch towers, high walls, and a well guarded
entrance--suggest a citizenry ready for battle.
• DIS

5. The infernal employee who transports
Dante and Virgil in his boat across the
Styx (Inf. 8.13-24)--circle of the
wrathful and sullen--is appropriately
known for his own impetuous
behavior. In a fit of rage, Phlegyas set
fire to the temple of Apollo because
the god had raped his daughter.
Apollo promptly slew him. Phlegyas,
whose own father was Mars (god of
war), appears in Virgil's underworld
as an admonition against showing
contempt for the gods (Aen. 6.618-
20). Megaera, one of the Furies,
tortures a famished and irritable
Phlegyas in Statius' Thebaid(1.712-
15).
• PHLEGYAS

6. Apart from what transpires in Inferno 8.31-
63, we know little of the hot-headed character
who quarrels with Dante, lays his hands on
the boat (to capsize it?), and is finally torn to
pieces by his wrathful cohorts, much to
Dante's liking. Early commentators report that
his name--Argenti--derived from an
ostentatious habit of shoeing his horse in
silver (argento). A black guelph, Filippo was
Dante's natural political enemy, but the tone
of the episode suggests personal animosity as
well. Some try to explain Dante's harsh
treatment of Filippo as payback for an earlier
offense--namely, Filippo once slapped Dante
in the face, or Filippo's brother took
possession of Dante's confiscated property
after the poet had been exiled from Florence.
Boccaccio, in his Decameron, highlights
Filippo's violent temper by having the
character throttle a man who had crossed him
(Day 9, novella 8).
• FILLIPP ARGENTI

7. The infernal employee who
transports Dante and Virgil in his
boat across the Styx (Inf. 8.13-
24)--circle of the wrathful and
sullen--is appropriately known for
his own impetuous behavior. In a
fit of rage, Phlegyas set fire to the
temple of Apollo because the god
had raped his daughter. Apollo
promptly slew him. Phlegyas,
whose own father was Mars (god
of war), appears in Virgil's
underworld as an admonition
against showing contempt for the
gods (Aen. 6.618-20). Megaera,
one of the Furies, tortures a
famished and irritable Phlegyas in
Statius' Thebaid(1.712-15).
• FALLEN ANGEL

8. With the appearance of the three Furies, who threaten to call on the Medusa, Virgil's
credibility and Dante's survival certainly appear to be at risk. Virgil is exceptionally
animated as he directs Dante's attention to the Furies (also called "Erinyes") and
identifies each one by name: Megaera, Tisiphone, and Allecto. This is a moment in the
journey when Virgil's legacy as the author of his own epic poem--in which he himself
writes of such creatures as the Furies and the Medusa--is central to the meaning of
Dante's episode. The Furies, according to Virgil's classical world, were a terrifying trio
of "daughters of Night"--bloodstained with snakes in their hair and about their waists--
who were often invoked to exact revenge on the part of offended mortals and gods.
The Medusa, one of three sisters known as the Gorgons, was so frightening to behold
that those who looked at her would turn to stone. Conventionally adorned with a head
full of serpents, she was decapitated by the Greek hero Perseus. Representations of
Perseus holding aloft the horrible head of the Medusa were common in the early
modern period. A Renaissance sculpture of the scene, by Cellini, has for many years
decked the Loggia in Piazza della Signoria, one of the main squares in Florence. The
fact that the Furies and Medusa were commonly thought to signify various evils (or
components of sin) in the Middle Ages, from obstinacy and doubt to heresy and pride,
may help to explain the travelers' difficulties at the entrance to Dis.

10. Although the arrival of the messenger from heaven--
who rebukes the demons so that the travelers may
enter Dis (lower hell)--was anticipated by Virgil
(Inf. 8.128-30; 9.8-9), the precise identification of
the powerful being is never made clear. Literally "sent
from heaven" (Inf. 9.85), he supports both classical
and Christian interpretations in his appearance and
actions. As an enemy of hell who walks on water
(Inf. 9.81) and opens the gates of Dis as Christ once
opened the gate of hell (Inf. 8.124-30), the
messenger is certainly a Christ-like figure. He also
bears similarities to Hermes-Mercury, the classical
god who--borne on his winged feet--delivers
messages to mortals from the heavens. The little
wand of the heavenly messenger (Inf. 9.89) recalls
the caduceus, the staff with which Hermes-Mercury
guides souls of the dead to Hades. Both Christ and
Hermes were strongly associated with the kind of
allegory Dante describes in Inferno 9.61-3--namely,
the idea that deeper meaning is hidden beneath the
surface-level meaning of words. See allegory.
• Heaven’s messenger

11. Styx (7-8)
The Styx is a body of water--a marsh or river--in the classical underworld.
Virgil describes it in his Aeneid as the marsh across which Charon ferries souls
of the dead--and the living Aeneas--into the lower world (Aen. 6.384-416).
Dante's presentation of the infernal waterways--and the topography of the
otherworld in general--is much more detailed and precise (and therefore more
realistic and recognizable) than the descriptions of his classical and medieval
precursors. The Styx, according to Dante's design, is a vast swamp
encompassing the fifth circle of hell, in which the wrathful and sullen are
punished. It also serves a practical purpose in the journey when Dante and
Virgil are taken by Phlegyas--in his swift vessel--across the marsh to the city
of Dis. Note the effects of Dante's body--modeled on a similar scene in
the Aeneid (6.412-16)--when he boards Phlegyas' craft (Inf. 8.25-30).

12. The harrowing of hell is previously described in Inferno 4. Virgil
now alludes to a specific effect of the harrowing--damage to the
gate of hell--in noting the arrogance of the demons at the
entrance to Dis (Inf. 8.124-7).
Theseus and Hercules (9)
The heavenly messenger pointedly reminds the demons at the entrance to Dis that
Dante will not be the first living man to breach their walls. Theseus and Hercules, two
classical heroes each with a divine parent, previously entered the underworld and
returned alive. Hercules, in fact, descended into Hades to rescue Theseus, who had
been imprisoned following his unsuccessful attempt to abduct Persephone, Queen of
Hades. While the Furies express regret at not having killed Theseus when they had the
chance (Inf. 9.54), the heavenly messenger recalls that Cerberus bore the brunt of
Hercules' fury as he was dragged by his chain along the hard floor of the underworld
(Inf. 9.97-9). In the Aeneid Charon tries to dissuade Aeneas from boarding his boat by
voicing his displeasure at having previously transported Hercules and Theseus to the
underworld (6.392-7).

13. Erichtho (9)
Dante's desire to know--with not-so-subtle implications--if anyone
has previously made the journey from upper hell, say Limbo, down
to lower hell is evidence of the mind games that he and Virgil
occasionally play with one another during their time together
(Inf. 9.16-18). Given the impasse at the entrance to Dis, Dante
understandably wants to know if his guide is up to the task. Virgil's
savvy response that, yes, he himself once made such a journey, is
his way of saying: "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing!" Virgil's
story, that he was summoned by Erichtho to retrieve a soul from the
lowest circle of hell (Inf. 9.25-30), is Dante's invention. Dante the
poet thus invents a story so that Virgil can save face and reassure
Dante the character. The poet likely based this story on a gruesome
episode from Lucan's Pharsalia (6.507-830): Erichtho, a blood-thirsty
witch, calls back from the underworld the shade of a freshly killed
soldier so he can reveal future events in the civil war between
Pompey and Caesar. By making Virgil a victim of Erichtho's sorcery,
Dante draws on the popular belief--widespread in the Middle Ages--
that Virgil himself possessed magical, prophetic powers.

14. Allegory (9)
When Dante interrupts the narrative to instruct his (smart) readers
to "note the doctrine hidden under the veil of strange verses"
(Inf. 9.61-3), he calls upon the popular medieval tradition of
allegorical reading. Commonly applied to the interpretation of
sacred texts (e.g., the Bible), allegory--in its various forms--
assumes that other, deeper levels of meaning (often spiritual) lie
beneath the surface in addition to (or in place of) the literal
meaning of the words. Allegory was also used to "moralize" (or
Christianize) classical works, such as Ovid'sMetamorphoses. The
medieval Platonic tradition often allegorically interpreted texts
according to a body of esoteric doctrine believed to originate with
Hermes (hence "hermeticism").

15. GOODLUCK😉
GET READY FOR A SHORT QUIZ🙂
• 1-5:PICTURE IDENTIFICATION
• 6-10:IDENTIFICATION
• 10-15: FILL IN THE BLANK

16. 2
1
3
4
5
• WRATH AND
SULLENNESS
• HEAVEN’S
MESSENGER
• DIS
• PHLEGYAS
• FILIPPO ARGENTI
• QUIIZ 1-5

17. 1. ANGER THAT IS EXPRESSED
2. ANGER THAT IS REPRESSED
3. WHOSE TEMPLE PHLEGYAS SET THE FIRE BECAUSE THE GOD RAPPED HIS
DAUGHTER
4. PHLEGYAS FATHER KNOWN AS GOD OF WAR
5. ONE OF THE FURRIES

18. 1. APPEARANCE OF THE THREE ____
2. THE _____ ONE OF THE THREE SISTERS KNOWN AS THE GORGONS
3. THE_____IS A BODY OF WATER
4. VIRGIL DESCRIBES IT IN HIS_____AS THE MARSH ACROSS WHICH CHARON
FERRIES SOULS OF THE DEAD
5. THE LITTLE WAND OF THE HEAVENLY MESSENGER RECALLS THE _______