Inferno, Canto 2

The Text of Canto 2 (Open PDF)

Summary

Dante's attempts to climb the Mountain have taken the whole day and it is now Good Friday evening, Dante has not gone far before he loses heart and 'begins to make excuse'. To his specious arguments Virgil replies flatly: "This is mere cowardice” and then tells how Beatrice, prompted by St Lucy at the instance of the Virgin Mary herself descended into Limbo to entreat him to go to Dante's rescue. Thus encouraged, Dante pulls himself together, and they start off again.

The Prepatory Lecture

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Questions for Reflection

• Why does Dante slide into cowardice at the outset of his journey into hell and what does this reveal about the divided character of his will (2.37)?
• What does Dante’s cowardice and divided will reveal about the diligence and fortitude needed for living out the Christian life?
• Who are the three heavenly women who instigate Dante’s salvific journey with Virgil? Why these three figures? How do they correspond to the three beasts of the previous canto? What role do their compassion, hope, and tears play in this canto?
• What does Dante’s depiction of the heavenly women show us about how he imagines the relationship between the blessed in heaven and those lost and wandering on earth? How might we better image that heavenly attitude in our lives?

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Canto 2, © Jan Hearn

The Images

The Blessed Virgin Mary, whom the Church calls Theotokos (Mother of God), is the historical and universal God-bearer, of whom Beatrice, like any other God-bearing image, is a particu- lar type. Mary is thus, in an especial and supreme manner, the vessel of Divine Grace, as experienced in, and mediated through, the redeemed creation. (Note that the name of Mary, like the name of Christ, is never spoken in Hell.)

St Lucy, a virgin martyr of the third century, is the patron saint of those with weak sight, and chosen here as the image of Illuminating Grace. Mary, Beatrice, and Lucy are a threefold image of Divine Grace in its various manifestations.

Virgil's Mission, Dante is so far gone in sin and error that Divine Grace can no longer move him directly; but there is still something left in him which is capable of responding to the voice of poetry and of human reason; and this, under Grace, may yet be used to lead him back to God. In this profound and beautiful image, Dante places Religion, on the one hand, and human Art and Philosophy, on the other, in their just relationship.

Mark Vernon's Lecture