Inferno, Canto 8

The Text of Canto 8 (Open PDF)

Summary

From the watch-tower on the edge of the marsh a beacon signals to the garrison of the City of Dis that Dante and Virgil are approaching, and a boat is sent to fetch them, Phlegyas ferries them across Styx. On the way they encounter Filippo Argenti, one of the Wrathful, who is recognised by Dante and tries to attack him. They draw near to the red-hot walls of the City and after a long circuit disembark at the gate. Virgil parleys with the Fallen Angels who are on guard there, but they slam the gate in his face. The two poets are obliged to wait for Divine assistance.

The Prepatory Lecture

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Questions for Reflection

• How does Argenti try to evoke Dante’s pity by describing himself as “the one who weeps”? Why is Dante’s harsh outburst against Argenti praiseworthy?
• Why would Virgil invoke Luke 11:27’s description of Christ in praise of Dante’s vengeful attitude toward Argenti?
• Dante invokes us the readers in 8.94. Why does he intentionally bring us into the narrative at this point?
• How does Virgil fail as Dante’s guide at the end of the canto? What might this tell us about Virgil’s limitations as a teacher and of the limitations of pagan wisdom?

 Canto 8, © Jan Hearn

The Images

Phlegyas in Greek mythology was a king of Boeotia, son of Ares the war-god by a human mother. His daughter Coronis was loved by Apollo; whereupon Phlegyas in his rage set fire to Apollo’s temple. Apollo killed him with his arrows, and he was condemned to torment in Hades. (See Aen. vi. 618.) He is thus an appropriate ferryman to ply between the Circle of the Wrathful and the City of the Impious.
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The City of Dis. This comprises the whole of Nether Hell, and its ramparts, moated by the Styx, form a complete circle about the Pit. The sins tormented within the City are those in which the will is actively involved (the sins of Violence and Fraud), and its iron walls are the image of a rigid and determined obstinacy in ill-doing.

Virgil's Repulse at the Gate. Humanism is always apt to underestimate, and to be baffled by, the deliberate will to sin. Neither is it any sure protection against Heresy. The allegory is further developed in the next canto.

Mark Vernon's Lecture