Inferno: Canto 8 -- Circles 5

2005-01-17T10:00:00.000-08:00

In Greek myth, we often stumble across Charon as the boatman of Styx, not Phlegyas, and it was into Charon's palm the soul would have to place a coin in order to secure transit to the Underworld. Without the coin, the dead would have to wander the banks of the river for a hundred years (so, who said you can't, or shouldn't, take it with you when you go?). Dante's placement of Charon at the river Acheron, though, is truer to the original myth (look at the names), and his placement of Phlegyas in Styx rather than in Phlegethon, is also correct though some versions of the myth place Phlegyas over the eponymous river.
("The River Styx" Lotta Tjernström, 2002)

Since this is our second river to cross, I'll precede Dante's explanation of the rivers to prepare you for it. In myth, there are five rivers in the Underworld, Acheron, Styx, Phlegethon, Cocytus, and Lethe. Dante puts four of these rivers in hell and moves Lethe to Purgatory. Acheron is the river of woe, Styx is the river of hate, Phlegethon is the river of fire, and Cocytus is the river of lamentations. Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, removes the memory of sin in Dante's cosmology, so it's appropriate that it come after the various penitential rites of the mountain. Dante adds a sixth river in the underworld, also in purgatory, called Eunoe, which strengthens the memory of the good.

As Dante crosses Styx, Filippo Argenti raises himself for a view and is berated by Dante, who prays that he "may weep and wail to all eternity,/ for I know you, hell-dog, filthy as you are" (37-9). Virgil's praise of Dante's righteous indignation here contrasts with his approval of Dante's sympathy with Paulo and Francesca for a very specific reason -- Dante's reaction is a moderation of the extreme in both instances. In the case of Paulo and Francesca, who were overcome by immoderate affection, Dante shows a moderate affection (swoon though he did). Here, Filippo Argenti suffers the torment of the wrathful, and Dante's righteous indignation against Argenti is a moderation of wrath. Righteous indignation is what Christ exhibited at the temple when he chased out the moneylenders for turning his father's house into a den of thieves. It is for this reason that Virgil invokes the "Blessed is she who bore you" phrase that parallels Dante's indignation to Christ's.

As the boat approaches the shore, we see the City of Dis, the capital city of hell. Once the poets enter Dis, they leave forever upper hell (sins of the She-Wolf of Incontinence -- bestial sins, really, since they deal with the passions overcoming reason) and begin their descent into lower hell. Geographically, this is a relevant crossing, then, because the countryside is the habitus of animals and those who tend them while the city is the habitus of man. The sins of the city, then, are those which are peculiar to man because he alone has the power of reason and can pervert that reason based on his own free will. It is the perversion of reason that leads to violence and fraud, both of which have their own divisions through which we'll be walking.

It is also at the gates of Dis that we see Virgil for the first time unable to overcome an obstacle. The rebellious angels, those who chose Satan's side in the war in heaven, refuse to open the gates -- we find these are the same angels that tried to bar Christ's path when he broke open the first gate through which the poets entered the vestibule. Virgil, unable to use the power that reason has over passion to defeat the angels seeks divine assistance for the first time. Those of you who are fond of discovering a paradox will enjoy this one -- Virgil, a damned soul, offers up a prayer. By what power is he able to do so in a land where prayers cannot be uttered?

S.

Inferno: Canto 8 -- Circle 5

Inferno: Canto 8 -- Circles 5