This is a Terror That
Cannot Be Told
Feraco
Myth to Science Fiction
11 December 2009
Circle Nine
• In The Inferno, Dante separates simple
fraud from compound fraud by defining
the latter as violations of individuals
with whom the sinner shares special
bonds – love, or even “unbreakable”
trust
• Those who commit compound fraud are
sent to Cocytus, the Ninth Circle of Hell;
Dante describes it as a gigantic frozen
lake, divided into four concentric
circles, with Satan (Dis) at its center
• The four regions – Caïna, Antenora,
Ptolomea, and Judecca – are separated
less by the gravity of the crime than by
the nature of the bond that’s been
broken
Cocytus
• This is the last of the four rivers of sin
that pour forth from the Old Man of
Crete
• In The Aeneid, Virgil describes Cocytus
very differently: it’s a nearly-black pool
of water that encircles a forest, with
sand pouring into it from a whirlpool
– This is where Dante drew his inspiration for
the Second and Third Rounds of the Seventh
Circle, with the Wood of the Suicides and the
Burning Plain of Sand; the image’s last
element turns up here
• In the Vulgate (the Latin Bible), Cocytus
is the Valley of Death for the Wicked,
although it’s alternately described as a
giant torrent; Dante’s frozen lake is his
own creation
Caïna
• Caïna, named after Cain, a Biblical figure who
slew his own brother out of jealousy, houses the
souls of those who betrayed their kinsmen
– This is where Gianciotto, Paolo’s brother and
Francesca’s husband, was sent; notice that neither
of them ended up here
• The souls are punished by being frozen in place
within the lake; only their heads and neck are
exposed, and the only movement they can make
is to bow their heads
• This is actually a bit of a blessing; the ice is
frozen by a tremendous wind, and the souls who
can bow their heads not only get to hide (a little
bit) from it, but can allow their tears to fall to
the ice without freezing their eyes shut
Antenora
• Antenora is named after Antenor, a
Trojan prince who had tried to return
Helen to the Greeks in order to save his
city
– His reputation had been so badly twisted by
medieval pro-Trojan Romans that he was
essentially seen as a Judas figure – someone
who had set out to betray those he’d sworn to
follow and protect
• Antenora houses the souls who have
betrayed their political party or nation
• The souls are also frozen within the lake;
they’re sunk in the ice a bit lower, so
while they still have the ability to speak,
they cannot bend their necks – with the
exception of Ugolino and Ruggieri
Ptolomea
• Ptolomea is named after one of two figures (or
both) named Ptolomy
– One was the captain of Jericho, who presented his
father-in-law and his two sons with a feast before
murdering them
– The other was Cleopatra’s brother, who arranged
for Pompey’s murder as soon as he arrived seeking
refuge following his defeat at Pharsalia
• Ptolomea houses the souls who betrayed their
friends or guests; they’re so deep in the ice that
only half of their head rises out of the ice; their
faces are forever looking upwards, and their
tears freeze their eyes shut
• Moreover, these souls were ripped out of their
bodies before they reached the end of their
natural lives; demons currently inhabit their
bodies, controlling them like marionettes until
they finally expire
Judecca
• Judecca is named after Judas Iscariot,
the apostle who betrayed Jesus;
interestingly, Judas isn’t punished here
– It’s also another piece of evidence that
commentators cite when debating Dante’s
anti-Semitism; “Judecca” recalls the names of
the ghettos (areas of cities like Venice) where
Jews were forced to live, segregated from the
medieval Christian population: Iudeca,
Judaica, etc.
• Judecca houses the souls who not only
betrayed their masters or benefactors,
but whose sins had important historical
or societal ramifications
• The souls are completely locked in ice,
trapped forever in various poses with no
ability to move or speak
The Center
• At the center, the poets find Satan
trapped within the ice, flapping his
gigantic wings, struggling to escape;
this is the source of the wind that
freezes the ice
– Since Satan himself is trapped within the ice,
he’s the source of his own punishment – just
as he brought his horrible fall from grace on
himself by rising up against God, he now
freezes himself by trying to rise again
• With three faces – Dante’s ironic
perversion of the Holy Trinity – Satan
uses his three mouths to chew three
sinners: Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of
Christ, and Brutus & Cassius, the
murderers of Caesar
The Contrapasso
• Since the Treacherous refused
God’s love and light in the
worst possible way, they are
farthest removed from both
in death
• Since they turned human
warmth into a weapon,
freezing ice punishes them
• As they destroyed all ties in
life, they are now bound by ice
that cannot break
Camicon / Bocca
• Alberto Camicon de Pazzi simply
murdered his kinsman
• Camicon’s function resembles Pier de
Medicina’s; he’s a minor figure who’s
mainly here to fill an expository need
(i.e., tell Dante about how things work in
that particular region of Hell, who’s in
there, and why they’re there)
• Pier della Vigne’s a more important
example (from the Second Round of the
Seventh Circle)
Camicon / Bocca
• Bocca degli Abati, who Dante’s really cruel
towards (not only does he accidentally kick him
in the head, but he starts pulling out chunks of
his hair in an attempt to torment Bocca into
revealing his name), fought in the Battle of
Montaperti with the Guelfs against forces under
the command of Farinata degli Uberti
• He was a member of a prominent Ghibelline
family, and he was only pretending to side with
the Guelfs; at a key moment, he sliced off the
hand of the Guelf flag-bearer
• The loss of their flag – and the realization that a
traitor had infiltrated their ranks – caused the
Guelfs to panic, and the well-organized forces
under Uberti’s command annihilated them
Ugolino / Ruggieri
• This is the single longest speech any of the
shades in Hell give; it’s Dante’s ultimate
depiction of the depths of human depravity
• Count Ugolino della Gherardesca lived in a city
called Pisa, one of Florence’s rival, and he
betrayed Pisa in a series of different moves
• He was born into an important Pisan Ghibelline
family, but switched sides once the Guelfs
started gaining power; Ugolino was exiled after
failing to install a Pisan Guelf government, but
he would return and, years later, be elected as
podesta (political head) of Pisa
• His grandson, Nino Visconti, served as “captain
of the people” – nearly the same in rank
Ugolino / Ruggieri
• At this point, Ugolino capitulated to political
expedience and gave away Pisan castles to
Florence and Lucca; this led to a split between
him and Nino, as well as between their followers
• At the same time, Ghibellines led by Archbishop
Ruggieri degli Ubaldini were gaining power in
nearby Tuscany; Ugolino conspired with them to
have Nino driven from the city, and was
intentionally absent from Pisa when their forces
arrived
• When he returned, Ruggieri betrayed him,
inciting the public against him by bringing up
his “betrayal of the castles”; with popular
pressure against him, Ugolino, two sons, and two
grandsons were arrested and locked away
Ugolino / Ruggieri
• Dante changes the conditions of Ugolino’s
imprisonment; he makes the sons much younger
and pretends the grandsons don’t exist, then
really lengthens the duration of their stay
(years instead of months)
• However, fact and fiction end the same way,
albeit for different reasons (change in
Ghibelline leadership vs. Ruggieri’s cruelty): the
key to Ugolino’s cell is thrown away, and food
delivery ceases
• Ugolino must watch helplessly as his sons,
begging for food, starve to death over the
course of a week, and expires a couple of days
later
• Ugolino doesn’t even pretend that he hasn’t
earned his punishment in Cocytus; instead, he
wants Dante to understand the monstrosity of
Ruggieri’s crime
Friar Alberigo
•
Friar Alberigo (Fra Alberigo for short) also suffers at
Dante’s hands, although for different reasons than
Bocca; Dante says he will peel the frozen tears from
his eyes if he reluctantly reveals his name, but the
poet does not keep his promise (for “to be rude to
him was courtesy”)
– Chillingly, Dante realizes that “Alberigo” isn’t dead yet –
or, at least, his body isn’t; his soul has been ripped from
his body in the wake of his sin
• In life, Alberigo was a Jovial Friar, the religious order
from the Hypocrites bolgia whose reputation for
peace-keeping was soon replaced by one of corruption
• His relative, Manfred, plotted Alberigo’s ruin for
politically-motivated reasons, and eventually hit him
• Alberigo pretended to forgive him, and invited his
attacker (and his son) to join him for a feast at his
home; when they finished eating, Alberigo’s servants
slaughtered them both as the master watched
gleefully
Judas, Brutus, & Cassius
•
•
•
While contemporary audiences tend to think of
Shakespeare’s play when asked to recall the
particulars of Julius Caesar’s life and death, Dante
had a much different view
Brutus and Cassius fought under Pompey’s command
during the civil war and, following Pompey’s defeat at
Pharsalia, receive high public offices after Caesar (in
Dante’s eyes, one of Rome’s greatest rulers, and a
critical component of God’s plan for human
happiness) pardons them
Cassius never stops resenting Caesar’s dictatorship,
and he conspired with Brutus to assassinate Caesar in
order to restore the Republic; they succeed in killing
their ruler, but their own ambitions met with ruin,
and both eventually committed suicide
– In Shakespeare, Caesar has become a decadent, corrupt,
and blind ruler; Brutus and Cassius betray him, but
reluctantly so, particularly in Brutus’s case
Judas, Brutus, & Cassius
• Judas Iscariot serves as one of Jesus
Christ’s twelve apostles, but agrees to
betray his master for thirty pieces of
silver
• He, too, pays for the consequences of his
betrayal by killing himself
• The three souls’ punishments – being
chewed, ripped, and flayed by Satan’s
teeth for all eternity – are the worst
Dante can imagine
Satan (Dis)
•
Satan, also called Dis or Lucifer (“light-bearer,” a
reference to the angel’s originally beautiful
appearance), earned his place at the heart of the
Inferno by rebelling against God
– Just as we see with the other Rebellious Angels, Satan is
now as hideous as he was once gorgeous, and his tri-faced
heads represent a wicked perversion of the Christian
Holy Trinity
•
•
•
Following his rebellion, he became what Raffa calls
“the source of evil and sorrow in the world” –
although one could argue that Dante’s text seems to
blame human failures as well
Dante and Virgil must literally climb over him, sliding
down his flank through the center of the world; when
they pass through it, their perspective flips to the
point where Satan’s legs now appear to jut straight
into the sky
Ultimately, he’s powerless to do anything to Dante,
despite the poet’s gut-wrenching tower at the mere
sight of him; in Hell, even Satan weeps
Beneath the Stars
• Once Dante and Virgil pass through the
center, they follow the trickling of the
Lethe toward the surface
– In classical mythology, the Lethe was the
River of Forgetfulness; souls drink from the
River before entering the world
• When they emerge, they walk out
“beneath the stars” – the same way
Dante ends all three parts of his Divine
Comedy
• The stars are the physical realm of
Paradise, which Dante explores later
during his quest for redemption; here,
it’s just enough that he stands under
them, the “shining symbols of hope and
virtue”
Beneath the Stars
• At the end of his book, Dante
remains an exile, a man without
friends, family, or home, a man
without a future
• His life never really gets better, and
he doesn’t drink from the Lethe to
forget what he’s suffered
• Yet the sky’s opened up above him,
human misery lies far behind
him…and for one fragile, shining
moment, Dante dares to dream of
salvation