CANTO XX VI FROM THE RIDGE high above the Eighth Bolgia can be perceived a myriad of flames flickering fa r below, and Virgil explains that within each flame is the suffering soul of a DECEIVER. One flame, divided at the top, catches the Pilgrim's eye and he is told that within it are jointly punished ULYSSES and DIOMED. Virgil questions the pair fo r the benefit of the Pilgrim. Ulysses responds with the fa mous narrative of his last voyage, during which he passed the Pillars of Hercules and sailed the fo rbidden sea until he saw a mountain shape, from which came suddenly a whirlwind that spun his ship around three times and sank it. Be joyful, Florence, since you are so great that your outstretched wings beat over land and sea, and your name is spread throughout the realm of Hell! I was ashamed to find among the thieves five of your most eminent citizens, a fact which does you very little honor. 6 But if early morning dreams have any truth, you will have the fate, in not too long a time, that Prato and the others crave for you. 9 And were this the day, it would not be too soon! Would it had come to pass, since pass it must! The longer the delay, the more my grief. 12 We started climbing up the stairs of boulders that had brought us to the place from where we watched; my guide went first and pulled me up behind him. 1 5 305
306 THE DIVINE COMEDY: INFERNO We went along our solitary way among the rocks, among the ridge's crags, where the foot could not advance without the hand. 18 I know that I grieved then, and now again I grieve when I remember what I saw, and more than ever I restrain my talent 21 lest it run a course that virtue has not set; fo r if a lucky star or something better has given me this good, I must not misuse it. 24 As many fireflies (in the season when the one who lights the world hides his fa ce least, in the hour when the flies yield to mosquitoes) 27 as the peasant on the hillside at his ease sees, flickering in the valley down below, where perhaps he gathers grapes or tills the soil- 30 with just so many flames all the eighth bolgia shone brilliantly, as I became aware when at last I stood where the depths were visible. 33 As he who was avenged by bears beheld Elijah's chariot at its departure, when the rearing horses took to flight toward Heaven, 36 and though he tried to follow with his eyes, he could not sec more than the flame alone like a small cloud once it had risen high- 39 so each flame moves itself along the throat of the abyss, none showing what it steals but each one stealing nonetheless a sinner. 42 I was on the bridge, leaning far over-so far that if I had not grabbed some jut of rock I could easily have fallen to the bottom. 45 And my guide, who saw me so absorbed, explained: "There are souls concealed within these moving fires, each one swathed in his burning punishment. " 48
CANTO XXVI 307 "0 master," I replied, "from what you say I know now I was right; I had guessed already it might be so, and I was about to ask you: s Who's in that flame with its tip split in two, like that one which once sprang up from the pyre where Eteocles was placed beside his brother?" He said: "Within, Ulysses and Diomed arc suffering in anger with each other, just vengeance makes them march together now. And they lament inside one flame the ambush of the horse become the gateway that allowed the Romans' noble seed to issue forth. Therein they mourn the trick that caused the grief of Deldamia, who still weeps for Achilles; and there they pay for the Palladium." 63 "If it is possible for them to speak from within those flames, " I said, "master, I pray and repray you-let my prayer be like a thousand- 66 that you do not forbid me to remain until the two-horned flame comes close to us; you see how I bend toward it with desire!" 69 "Your prayer indeed is worthy of highest praise," he said to me, "and therefore I shall grant it; but see to it your tongue refrains from speaking. 72 Leave it to me to speak, for I know well what you would ask; perhaps, since they were Greeks, they might not pay attention to your words." 75 So when the flame had reached us, and my guide decided that the time and place were right, he addressed them and I listened to him speaking: 78 "0 you who are two souls within one fire, if I have deserved from you when I was living, if I have deserved from you much praise or little, 81 S4 S7 6o
308 THE DIVINE COMEDY: INFERNO when in the world I wrote my lofty verses, do not move on; let one of you tell where he lost himself through his own fault, and died." 84 The greater of the ancient flame's two horns began to sway and quiver, murmuring just like a flame that strains against the wind; 87 then, while its tip was moving back and forth, as if it were the tongue itself that spoke, the flame took on a voice and said: "When I 90 set sail from Circe, who, more than a year, had kept me occupied close to Gaeta (before Aeneas called it by that name), 93 not sweetness of a son, not reverence for an aging father, not the debt of love I owed Penelope to make her happy, 96 could quench deep in myself the burning wish to know the world and have experience of all man's vices, of all human worth. 99 So I set out on the deep and open sea with just one ship and with that group of men, not many, who had not deserted me. 102. I saw as far as Spain, far as Morocco, both shores; I had left behind Sardinia, and the other islands which that sea encloses. 105 I and my mates were old and tired men. Then finally we reached the narrow neck where Hercules put up his signal-pillars 108 to warn men not to go beyond that point. On my right I saw Seville, and passed beyond; on my left, Ceuta had already sunk behind me. 'Brothers,' I said, 'who through a hundred thousand perils have made your way to reach the West, during this so brief vigil of our senses 114 m
CANTO XXVI 309 that is still reserved for us, do not deny yourself experience of what there is beyond, behind the sun, in the world they call unpeopled. 117 Consider what you came from: you are Greeks! You were not born to live like mindless brutes but to follow paths of excellence and knowledge.' 120 With this brief exhortation I made my crew so anxious for the way that lay ahead, that then I hardly could have held them back; 123 and with our stem turned toward the morning light, we made our oars our wings fo r that mad flight, gaining distance, always sailing to the left. 126 The night already had surveyed the stars the other pole contains; it saw ours so low it did not show above the ocean floor. 129 Five times we saw the splendor of the moon grow full and five times wane away again since we had entered through the narrow pass- 132 when there appeared a mountain shape, darkened by distance, that arose to endless heights. I had never seen another mountain like it. 135 Our celebrations soon turned into grief: from the new land there rose a whirling wind that beat against the fo repart of the ship 138 and whirled us round three times in churning waters; the fo urth blast raised the stern up high, and sent the bow down deep, as pleased Another's will. 141 And then the sea was closed again, above us." NO TES 1--6. Be joyfol, Florence, since you are so great: Dante's invective against Florence, inspired by the presence of five of her citizens in the bolgia of the thieves, also serves an artistic func-
310 THE DIVINE COMEDY: INFERNO tion. Depicted as a great bird that spreads its wings, the proud city of Florence prefigures Lucifer (cf. XXXIV, 46--48) and, more immediately, the "mad flight" (125) of Ulysses, whose ship's oars were like wings. But as Lucifer was cast down into Hell in defeat by God, so Ulysses was cast into the depths of the sea by a fo rce he refers to as "Another's will" (141). The implication is that someday Florence, by adhering to her present course, will also be destroyed. 7-9. But if early morning dreams have any truth: According to the ancient and medieval popular tradition, the dreams that men have in the early morning hours before daybreak will come true. Dante's dream-prophecy concerns impending strife fo r Florence and can be interpreted in several ways. It could refer to the malediction placed on the city by Cardinal Niccolo da Prato, who was sent (1304) by Pope Benedict XI to reconcile the opposing political fa ctions, and who, having failed in his mission, decided to lay a curse on the city. Or we may have an allusion to the expulsion of the Blacks from Prato in 1309. However, it seems most plausible, given the phrase "and the others" (9), that Prato is to be interpreted here in a generic sense to indicate all the small Tuscan towns subjected to Florentine rule, which will soon rebel against their master. 34-39. As he who was avenged by bears beheld: The prophet Elisha saw Elijah transported to Heaven in a fiery chariot. When Elisha on another occasion cursed, in the name of the Lord, a group of children who were mocking him, two bears came out of the forest and devoured them (II Kin,gs II, 9-12, 23-24)- 52-54 Who's in that flame with its tip split in two: Here the attention of the Pilgrim, is captured by a divided flame, as it was in Canto XIX by the flaming, flailing legs of Nicholas III. Dante compares this flame with that which rose from the fu neral pyre of Eteoclcs and Polynices, the sons of Oedipus and Jocasta, who, contesting the throne of Thebes, caused a major conflict known as the Seven Against Thebes (sec XIV, 68-69). The two brothers met in single combat and slew each
CANTO XXVI 3II other. They were placed together on the pyre, but because of their great mutual hatred, the flame split. 55-57. Within, Ulysses and Diomed: Ulysses, the son oflaertes, was a central figure in the Trojan War. Although his deeds are recounted by Homer, Dictys of Crete, and many others, the story of his last voyage presented here by Dante (9o-142) has no literary or historical precedent. His story, being an invention of Dante's, is unique in The Divine Comedy. Diomed, the son of Tydeus and Dei pyle, ruled Argos. He was a major Greek figure in the Trojan War and was frequently associated with Ulysses in his exploits. In Italian, lines 56-57 are: "... e cosi 'nseme I a Ia vendetta vanno come a!'ira." Most commentators interpret the lines to mean that Ulysses and Diomed go together toward punishment ("vendetta") now, as in life they went together in anger (they fo ught together?). But because of the parallel construction a Ia vendetta... a /'ira, both parts of which depend on the verb vanno ("go") in the present tense, and because of the comparison Dante makes between Ulysses and Diomed and Eteocles and Polynices, I believe that these two figures in the flames are angry now; that it is part of their punishment, since they were close companions in sin on earth, to suffer "... in anger with each other" in Hell. "Togetherness" in punishment suffered by those who were once joined in sin has been suggested in the case of Paolo and Francesca (Canto V). 58-60. And they lament inside one flame the ambush: The Trojans mistakenly believed the mammoth wooden horse, left outside the city's walls, to be a sign of Greek capitulation. They brought it through the gates of the city amid great rejoicing. Later that evening the Greek soldiers hidden in the horse emerged and sacked the city. The Fall oft roy occasioned the journey of Aeneas and his followers ("noble seed") to establish a new nation on the shores of Italy which would become the heart of the Roman Empire. See Cantos I (73-75) and II (13-21). 61-62. the grief I ofdeiilamia: Thetis brought her son Achilles, disguised as a girl, to the court of King Lycomedes on the
312 THE DIVINE COMEDY: INFERNO island of Scyros, so that he would not have to fight in the Trojan War. There Achilles seduced the king's daughter Deidamia, who bore him a child and whom he later abandoned, encouraged by Ulysses (who in company with Diomed had come in search of him) to join the war. Achiiies' female disguise was unveiled by a "trick": bearing gifts fo r Lycomedes' daughters, Ulysses had smuggled in among them a shield and lance; Achiiies betrayed his real sex by manifesting an inordinate interest in the two weapons. 63. and there they pay fo r the Palladium: The sacred Pailadium, a statue of the goddess Pailas Athena, guaranteed the integrity of Troy as long as it remained in the citadel. Ulysses and Diomed stole it and carried it off to Argos, thereby securing victory for the Greeks over the Trojans. 75. they might not pay attention to your words: No one has yet offered a convincing explanation for Virgil's reluctance to allow the Pilgrim to address the two Greek warriors. Perhaps Virgil felt that it was more fitting fo r him to speak because he represented the same world of antiquity as they. (See XXVII, n.33 ) 90--92. When I I set sail.from Circe: On his return voyage to Ithaca from Troy Ulysses was detained by Circe, the daughter of the Sun, fo r more than a year. She was an enchantress who transformed Ulysses' men into swine. 92-93. close to Gae ta: Along the coast of southern Italy above Naples there is a promontory (and now on it there is a city) then cailed Gaeta. Aeneas named it to honor his nurse, who had died there. See Aeneid VII, rff. and Ovid's Metamorphoses XIV, 441ff. 94-96. not sweetness of a son, not reverence: In his quest for knowledge of the world Ulysses puts aside his affection for his son, Telemachus, his duty toward his father, Laertes, and the love of his devoted wife, Penelope; that is, he sinned against the classical notion of pietas. ro8. where Hercules put up his signal-pillars: The Strait of Gibraltar, referred to in ancient times as the Pillars of Hercules. The two "piilars" are Mt. Abyla on the North African coast and Mt. Calpc on the European side; originally one mountain,
CANTO XXVI 3I3 they were separated by Hercules to designate the farthest reach of the inhabited world, beyond which no man was permitted to venture. I Io-I I. On my ri&ht I saw Seville, and passed beyond: In other words Ulysses has passed through the Strait of Gibraltar and is now in the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta is a town on the North African coast opposite Gibraltar; in this passage Seville probably represents the Iberian Peninsula and, as such, the boundary of the inhabited world. I25. we made our oars our win&s fo r that mad flight: Note Ulysses' present judgment in Hell of his past action. (See XXVII, final note.) I 3o-3 I. Five times we saw the splendor of the moon: Five months had passed since they began their voyage: I33 when there appeared a mountain shape, darkened: In Dante's time the Southern Hemisphere was believed to be composed entirely of water; the mountain that Ulysses and his men see from afar is the Mount of Purgatory, which rises from the sea in the Southern Hemisphere, the polar opposite of Jerusalem. For the formation of the mountain see XXXIV, I I2-26. * * * * In the list of sins punished in the Eighth Circle of Hell (those of Simple Fraud) which Virgil offers in Canto XI, two categories are left unspecified, summed up in the phrase "and like filth." When the sins specified in this list are assigned to their respective bol&e (and all commentators are agreed as to their localization), two bolge arc left open: the Eighth and the Ninthwhich must be those where the sins of"like filth" arc punished. As for the specific variety of Fraud being punished in the Ninth Bol&ia, the sinners there arc clearly identified when we meet them in Canto XXVIII, as "sowers of scandal and schism." As for our canto, all scholars have assumed that the sin for which Ulysses and Diomcd arc being punished is that of Fraudulent Counseling, not because of what is said about them here but because of what is said about Guido da Montcfeltro in the next canto: the Black Cherub, in claiming Guido's soul, says (XXVII, IIS-I6): "He must come down to join my other
3I4 THE DIVINE COMEDY: INFERNO servants for the false counsel he gave." Since Guido is in the same bolgia, and suffers the same punishment as Ulysses and Diomed, critics have evidently assumed (as is only logical) that they must have committed the same sin; they also assume that the sin they share in common must be that of Fraudulent Counseling. But as fo r Ulysses and Diomed, their sins are specifically mentioned and in none of the three instances involved is any act of "fraudulent counseling" recorded. If these two are not in Hell fo r this sin, then, in spite of the Black Cherub's words, it must follow that neither is Guido. (See final note to Canto XXVII).