Infierno (Divina comedia)

La primera página de La Divina Comedia.

El Infierno (en italiano Inferno) es la primera de las tres cánticas de La Divina Comedia del poeta florentino Dante Alighieri. Los sucesivos cantos son el Purgatorio y el Paraíso. Está formada por 33 cantos, más uno de introducción, y cada canto está subdividida en tercetos y la rima está unida. De hecho, su estructura doctrinal hace un uso constante del número 3: los condenados son de hecho repartidos en tres categorías, cada una localizada en una sección decreciente de la cavidad subterránea. El orden de las penas, como dice Virgilio en el canto XI, depende de la Ética Nicomaquea de Aristóteles, y prefigura una jerarquía del mal basada en el uso de la razón. La elección de las penas sigue la "ley del contrapaso", que castiga los pecadores mediante el contrario de sus pecados o por analogía a ella. En ese sentido, los pecadores más "cercanos" a Dios y la luz, es decir puestos en los primeros círculos, son los incontinentes, es decir aquellos que usaron el menor uso de la razón en pecar. Siguen los violentos, que fueron cegados por la pasión, si bien a un nivel de inteligencia mayor que los primeros. Los últimos son los fraudulentos y los traidores, que quisieron y realizaron el mal concientemente. Entre los traidores hay cuatro categorías: de quien se tiene confianza, de la patria, de los hospedantes y de las instituciones. Todos los pecadores del Infierno tienen una característica en común: sienten la lejanía de Dios como el mayor castigo.

Vestíbulo del Infierno

El poema comienza el día antes del Viernes Santo, en 1300. El narrador, Dante Alighieri, tiene treinta y cinco años, y por ende se encuentra "a mitad del camino de la vida" (Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita)—mitad de la expectativa de vida de setenta años según la Biblia (Salmo 90:10). el poeta se encuentra perdido en un bosque, siendo asaltado por tres bestias (un león, un leopardo, y una loba) a los cuales no puede evadir, y siendo incapaz de encontrar la "senda verdadera" (diritta via) —también traducible como "verdadero camino"—a la salvación. Conciente de que el mismo se esta haciendo daño y de que esta cayendo en un "profundo lugar" (basso loco) donde el sol es silente (l sol tace), Dante es finalmente rescatado por el poeta romano Virgilio, y los dos comienzan un viaje a mundo de ultratumba. Cada castigo en el Infierno es un contrapeso, una representación de la justicia poética; por ejemplo, los adivinos deberán caminar con sus cabezas al revés, incapaces de ver lo que esta enfrenta, resultado de tratar de ver el futuro de una vida

La barca de Dante, óleo de Eugène Delacroix.

Dante pasa a través de la puerta del infierno, la cual tiene un inscripción, de la cual la novena y ultima línea procede la famosa frase "Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate", o "Abandone toda esperanza, aquel que entre aquí". Antes de entrar completamente al infierno, Dante y su guía ven a aquellos que nunca se comprometieron, las almas de aquellos que jamás hicieron algo bueno o malo (entre ellos, Dante reconoce a el Celestino V o a Poncio Pilatos; el texto es ambiguo). Con ellos están los exiliados que no tomaron parte en la rebelión de los ángeles. Estas almas no están ni en el Infierno o fuera de este, pero residen en las orillas del Aqueronte, Su castigo es el de perseguir eternamente una bandera mientras son perseguidos por abejas y avispas que continuamente los pican mientras gusanos y otros insectos succionan su sangre y lágrimas. Esto simboliza el aguijón de sus conciencias y la repugnancia del pecado. Como del Purgatorio y el Paraíso, el Infierno tiene una estructura de 9+1=10, pues cuenta con un "vestíbulo" de diferente naturaleza de los otros nueve círculos que los componen, de los cuáles lo separa el Aqueronte.

Tras franquear el "vestíbulo," Dante y Virgilio llegan a la barca que les permitirá cruzar el Aqueronte y llegar al infierno propiamente dicho. Quien conduce la embarcación es Caronte, quien al saber a Dante del mundo de los vivos, se niega a dejarlo pasar. Virgilio, sin embargo, lo obliga a acceder pronunciando la célebre frase Vuolsi così colà ove si puote, que traduce "así se dispuso allí donde se tiene la autoridad" indicando que el viaje de Dante es deseado por Dios. Las protestas y blasfemias de las almas condenadas llenan la atmósfera. Sin embargo, el poeta pierde el conocimiento y en su poema no se describe el cruce del río propiamente dicho.

A continuación Virgilio guía a Dante por los nueve círculos del Infierno, que son concéntricos, representando la progresión de la gravedad del pecado castigado, y culmina en el centro de la tierra, donde Satán es prisionero. Los pecadores de cada círculo son castigados con penas eternas, pero aquellos que se arrepintieron y oraron antes de fallecer se encuentran en el Purgatorio, donde deben expiar sus culpas. En el Infierno se encuentran quienes justificaron sus pecados y no se arrepintieron.

En un sentido alegórico, las tres bestias representan los tres tipos de pecados: la autoindulgencia, la violencia, y la perversidad,​ lo cual es de importancia pues determina la estructura del lugar, de modo que el alto Infierno (los primeros cinco círculos) corresponden a los pecados de autoindulgencia; el sexto y le séptimo a los caracterizados por la violencia; y el octavo y el noveno a los marcados por la perversidad.

Los nueve círculos del Infierno

Primer círculo (Limbo)

En el Limbo se encuentran los no bautizados y los paganos virtuosos, quienes, pese a no ser pecadores, no aceptaron a Cristo. Estos pecadores no son efectivamente atormentados, pero aún así estan condenados ya que estan separados de Dios, sin esperanza de reconciliarse con él. El Limbo comparte muchas características con los prados asfódelos griegos; un lugar neutral, ni bueno ni malo, donde estás gentes estarán eternamente siempredeseando a Dios pero sin poder tenerlo nunca.', Canto IV, line 36, Mandelbaum translation.</ref>). El Limbo incluye prados verdes y un castillo, el lugar donde están los hombres más sabios de la antigüedad, incluyendo al mismo Virgilio, así como filósofos islámicos cualAverroes y Avicenna. En este castillo Dante conoce a los poetas Homero, Horacio, Ovidio, y Lucan, la reina amazona Pentesilea, al matemático Euclides, los filósofos Sócrates y Aristóteles, y muchos otros, incluyendo a César en su rol como general de la Roman ("in his armor, falcon-eyed"​). Curiosamente, Dante también se encuentra conSaladino en el Limbo (Canto IV). Dante implies that all virtuous non-Christians find themselves here, although he later encounters two (Catón de Útica y Estacio) en el Purgatorio y dos (Trajano y Rifeo) en el Paraíso.

Después de este primer círculo, todos los condenados por pecados "activos", es decir, que deliberadamente han pecado dañando a alguien, son juzgados por Minos, quien sentencia cada alma a alguno de los círculos que se encuentran más abajo, enrollando su cola sobre sí mismo, tantas veces como pecados hayan cometido(Minos initially hinders the poets' passage, until rebuked by Virgilio). Los círculos más profundos estan estructurados de acuerdo a la concepciñon clásica (Aristotélica) del vicio y la virtud. Están agrupados de acuerdo a los pecados de incontinencia, violencia y fraude (Que, según diversos comentaristas, están representados por el leopardo, el león, y la loba, respectivamente). Los pecados de incontinencia, es decir, la incapacidad de controlar los deseos e instintos propios, son castigados en un primer lugar, mientras que la violencia y el fraude aparecen después.

Gianciotto descubre a Paolo y Francesca, óleo de Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres.

Segundo círculo (Lujuria)

En el segundo círculo del Infierno, se encuentran aquellos que han pecado por lujuria. Dante condemns these "carnal malefactors"​ for letting their appetites sway their reason. Ellos son los primeros en ser verdaderamente castigados en el Infierno. These souls are blown about to y fro by the terrible winds of a violent storm, without esperanza of rest. This symbolizes the power of lust to blow one about needlessly y aimlessly.

En este círculo, Dante ve a Semiramis, Dido, Cleopatra, Helena, Aquiles, Paris, Tristán, y muchos otros que were overcome by sensual love durante su vida. Francesca da Rimini le dice a Dante como ella y su cuñado Paolo cometieron adulterio, y después murieron de manera violenta, en el nombre del Amor, en las manos de su esposo, Gianciotto Malatesta. Francesca reports that their act of adultery was triggered by reading the adulterous story of Lancelot y Ginebra (un episodio esculpido por Auguste Rodin en El Beso. Sin embargo, ella cree que su esposo será castigado por su fratricidio en Caina, en el Noveno Círculo (Canto V).

The third circle, illustrated by Stradanus

El poeta inglés John Keats, en su poema "On a Dream," ("En un Sueño) imagina que Dante no nos muestra el punto de vista de Paolo:

"... Pero a ese segundo círculo del infierno triste, ¿Dónde mediados de la ráfaga, el torbellino, y el defecto De la lluvia y el granizo-piedras, los amantes no tiene por qué decirle Sus dolores. Pálida eran los dulces labios vi, Pálida se me besó los labios, y la feria de forma Yo flotaba con, alrededor de esa tormenta melancolía. "​

Tercer círculo (Gula)

Recobrando el sentido, se halla el poeta en el tercer círculo, donde se castiga el pecado de la Gula con la pena de ser batidos los condenados por una fortísima lluvia mezclada con grueso granizo, y ensordecidos por los terribles ladridos de Cerbero, que ademas los desgarra con uñas y dientes. Entre esos infelices encuentra a Ciaco.

Cerbero guardia de la Gula y los glotones , obligados a residir en un lugar donde graniza todo el tiempo, la lluvia helada (Virgilio paso seguro más allá del monstruo, llenando su boca con tierra y barro). Los glotones son condenados a vivir su eternidad como alimento de Cerbero. En sus notas sobre este círculo, Dorothy L. Sayers escribe que "la renuncia al pecado, que comenzó con la indulgencia mutua conduce por una degradación imperceptible para aislamiento auto-indulgencia." Dorothy L. Sayers,Infierno, señala el Canto VI. </ ref> Los glotones se encuentran aquí sin vista y sin hacer caso de sus vecinos, que simboliza el frío, la sensualidad egoísta, y vacío de sus vidas. Al igual que la lujuria ha revelado su verdadera naturaleza en los vientos del círculo anterior, aquí el fango revela la verdadera naturaleza de la sensualidad - que incluye no sólo excesos en la bebida y los alimentos, sino también otros tipos de adicción.

En este círculo, Dante conversa con un florentino contemporáneo identificado como Ciacco, que significa "cerdo". Un personaje con el mismo apodo aparece más tarde enEl Decamerónde Giovanni Boccaccio. [​ Ciacco habla a Dante en relación con las luchas en Florencia entre el "Blanco" y "Negro" [güelfos [y gibelinos | güelfos]]. En uno de una serie de profecías en el poema, Ciacco "predice" la expulsión del partido blanco, a la que Dante pertenecía, y que llevó al propio Dante [[Dante Alighieri # Exilio | y la muerte] exilio ]. Este evento ocurrió en 1302, después de la fecha en la que se establece en el poema, pero antes de que el poema fue escrito ​ (Canto VI).

In Gustave Doré's illustrations for the fourth circle, the weights are huge money bags.

Cuarto círculo (Avaricia y Prodigalidad)

Aquellos cuya actitud hacia los bienes materiales se desvió de la media adecuada son castigados en el cuarto círculo. Estos incluyen los avaros, o avaro (incluyendo a muchos "sacerdotes, cardenales y papas y" [10]), que acumulaba posesiones, y el hijo pródigo, que lo desperdició. Los dos grupos son custodiadas por Pluto, el dios griego de la riqueza (que utiliza la críptica frase Pape Satan, pape aleppe Satanás). La justa dos grupos, utilizando como armas grandes pesos que empujar con el pecho:

"... Vi multitudes a cada lado de mí, sus gritos eran fuertes al mismo tiempo, los pesos rodar, utilizaron el pecho para empujar. Y le golpeaban unos contra otros; en ese momento, cada uno se dio vuelta y, de vuelta girando esos pesos, gritó: ¿Por qué tesoro? ¿Por qué desperdiciar? »[11]

El contraste entre estos dos grupos Virgilio conduce al discurso sobre la naturaleza de la fortuna, que resucita a las naciones a la grandeza, y luego los sume en la pobreza, como ella cambia "esos productos vacíos de nación á nación, clan a clan." [12] expresión llena lo que de otro modo sería una brecha en el poema, ya que ambos grupos están tan absortos en su actividad que Virgilio le dice a Dante que sería inútil tratar de hablar con ellos - de hecho, han perdido su individualidad, y se conviertan en "irreconocible "[13] (Canto VII).

The fifth circle, illustrated by Stradanus

Quinto círculo (Ira y Pereza)

In the swamp-like water of the river Styx, the wrathful fight each other on the surface, y the sullen lie gurgling beneath the water, withdrawn "into a black sulkiness which can find no joy in God or man or the universe."​ Phlegyas reluctantly transports Dante y Virgilio across the Styx in his skiff. On the way they are accosted by Filippo Argenti, a Black Guelph from a prominent family. When Dante responds "In weeping y in grieving, accursed spirit, may you long remain,"​ Virgilio blesses him. Literally, this reflects the fact that souls in Hell are eternally fixed in the state they have chosen, but allegorically, it reflects Dante's beginning awareness of his own sin​ (Cantos VII y VIII).

The lower parts of Hell are contained within the walls of the city of Dis, which is itself surrounded by the Stygian marsh. Punished within Dis are active (rather than passive) sins. The walls of Dis are guarded by fallen angels. Virgilio is unable to convince them to let Dante y him enter, y the Furies y Medusa threaten Dante. An angel sent from Heaven secures entry for the poets, opening the gate by touching it with a wand, y rebuking those who opposed Dante. Allegorically, this reveals the fact that the poem is beginning to deal with sins that philosophy y humanism cannot fully understand​ (Cantos VIII y IX).

Sexto círculo (Herejía)

In the sixth circle, Heretics, such as Epicurians (who "say the soul dies with the body"​) are trapped in flaming tombs. Dante holds discourse with a pair of Epicurian Florentines in one of the tombs: Farinata degli Uberti, a Ghibelline (posthumously condemned for heresy in 1283); y Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti, a Guelph, who was the father of Dante's friend y fellow poet Guido Cavalcanti. The political affiliation of these two men allows for a further discussion of Florentine politics (Canto X).

In response to a question from Dante about the "prophecy" he has received, Cavalcante explains that what the souls in Hell know of life on earth comes from seeing the future, not from any observation of the present. Consequently, when "the portal of the future has been shut,"​ it will no longer be possible for them to know anything.

Lower Hell, inside the walls of Dis, in an illustration by Stradanus. There is a drop from the sixth circle to the three rings of the seventh circle, then again to the ten rings of the eighth circle, and, at the bottom, to the icy ninth circle.

Pausing for a moment before the steep descent to the foul-smelling seventh circle, Virgilio explains the geography y rationale of Lower Hell, in which violent y malicious sins are punished. In this explanation, he refers to the Nicomachean Ethics y the Physics of Aristotle (Canto XI). In particular, he asserts that there are only two legitimate sources of wealth: natural resources ("nature") y human activity ("art"). Usury, to be punished in the next circle, is therefore an offence against both:​

"From these two, art y nature, it is fitting,
if you recall how Genesis begins,
for men to make their way, to gain their living;
and since the usurer prefers another
pathway, he scorns both nature in herself
and art her follower; his hope is elsewhere."​

Séptimo círculo (Violencia)

The seventh circle houses the violent. Its entry is guarded by the Minotaur, y it is divided into three rings:

• Outer ring: This ring houses the violent against people y property, who are immersed in Phlegethon, a river of boiling blood, to a level commensurate with their sins: Alexander the Great is immersed up to his eyebrows. The Centaurs, commanded by Chiron, patrol the ring, firing arrows into those trying to escape. The centaur Nessus guides the poets along Phlegethon y across a ford in the river (Canto XII). This passage may have been influenced by the early medieval Visio Karoli Grossi.​

The Gianfigliazzi family was identified by a heraldic device of a lion (blue on yellow background).

• Middle ring: In this ring are the suicides (the violent against self), who are transformed into gnarled thorny bushes y trees, which are fed on by the Harpies. Unique among the dead, the suicides will not be bodily resurrected after the final judgement, having given their bodies away through suicide. Instead they will maintain their bushy form, with their own corpses hanging from the limbs. Dante breaks a twig off one of the bushes y from the broken, bleeding, branch hears the tale of Pier delle Vigne, who committed suicide after falling out of favour with Emperor Frederick II (his presence here, rather than in the ninth circle, indicates that Dante believes that the accusations made against him were false​). The trees are a metaphor for the state of mind in which suicide is committed.​ The other residents of this ring are the profligates, who destroyed their lives by destroying the means by which life is sustained (i.e. money y property). They are perpetually chased by ferocious dogs through the thorny undergrowth (Canto XIII).

• Inner ring: Here the violent against God (blasphemers) y the violent against nature (sodomites and, as explained in the sixth circle, usurers) all reside in a desert of flaming sand with fiery flakes raining from the sky. The blasphemers lie on the sand, the usurers sit, y the sodomites wander about in groups. Dante converses with two Florentine sodomites from different groups. One of them is Dante's mentor, Brunetto Latini. Dante is very surprised y touched by this encounter y shows Brunetto great respect for what he has taught him ("you taught me how man makes himself eternal; / y while I live, my gratitude for that / must always be apparent in my words"​), thus refuting suggestions that Dante only placed his enemies in Hell.​ The other sodomite is Iacopo Rusticucci, a politician, who blames his wife for his fate. Those punished here for usury include the Florentines Catello di Rosso Gianfigliazzi, Ciappo Ubriachi, y Giovanni di Buiamonte; y the Paduans Reginaldo degli Scrovegni y Vitaliano di Iacopo Vitaliani. They are identified not primarily by name, but by heraldic devices emblazoned on the purses around their necks – purses which "their eyes seemed to feast upon"​ (Cantos XIV through XVII).

Octavo círculo (Fraude)

The last two circles of Hell punish sins that involve conscious fraud or treachery. These circles can be reached only by descending a vast cliff, which Dante y Virgilio do on the back of Geryon, a winged monster traditionally represented as having three heads or three conjoined bodies,​ but described by Dante as having three mixed natures: human, bestial, y reptile.​ Geryon is an image of fraud, with his face appearing to be that of an honest man, y his body beautifully coloured, but with a poisonous sting in his tail​ (Canto XVII).

Jason y Medea, by John William Waterhouse (1907).

Dante's guide rebuffs Malacoda y his fiends between Bolgie 5 y 6, Canto 21.

Dante climbs the flinty steps in Bolgia 7, Canto 26.

Dante sees the Trojan Horse as an evil trick, punished in Bolgie 8 y 10 (The Fall of Troy, by Johann Georg Trautmann).

The fraudulent—those guilty of deliberate, knowing evil—are located in a circle named Malebolge ("Evil Pockets"), divided into ten Bolgie, or ditches of stone, with bridges spanning the ditches:

• Bolgia 1: Panderers (pimps) y seducers march in separate lines in opposite directions, whipped by demons (Dante makes reference here to a recent traffic rule developed for the Jubilee year of 1300 in Rome: keep to the right​). Just as the panderers y seducers used the passions of others to drive them to do their bidding, they are themselves driven by demons to march for all eternity.​ In the group of panderers, the poets notice Venedico Caccianemico, who sold his own sister to the Marchese d'Este. In the group of seducers, Virgilio points out Jason, who gained the help of Medea by seducing y marrying her, only to later desert her for Creúsa.​ Jason also seduced Hypsipyle, but "abandoned her, alone y pregnant"​ (Canto XVIII).

• Bolgia 2: Flatterers also exploited other people, this time using language. They are steeped in human excrement, which represents the words they produced.​ Dorothy L. Sayers, who worked in the advertising industry, comments "Dante did not live to see the full development of political propaganda, commercial advertisement, y sensational journalism, but he has prepared a place for them"​ (Canto XVIII).

• Bolgia 3: Dante now forcefully expresses​ his condemnation of those who committed simony. These are placed head-first in holes in the rock (resembling baptismal fonts), with flames burning on the soles of their feet. One of the simoniacs, Pope Nicholas III, denounces two of his successors, Pope Boniface VIII y Pope Clement V, for the same offence. The simile of baptismal fonts gives Dante an incidental opportunity to clear his name of an accusation of malicious damage to the font in the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini​ (Canto XIX).

• Bolgia 4: Sorcerers, astrologers, y false prophets here have their heads twisted around on their bodies backward, so that they "found it necessary to walk backward, / because they could not see ahead of them."​ While referring primarily to attempts to see into the future by forbidden means, this also symbolises the twisted nature of magic in general.​ In this Bolgia, Dante sees Amphiaraus, Tiresias, Michael Scot, y Guido Bonatti, among others (Canto XX).

• Bolgia 5: Corrupt politicians (barrators) are immersed in a lake of boiling pitch, which represents the sticky fingers y dark secrets of their corrupt deals.​ The barrators are the political analogue of the simoniacs, y Dante devotes several cantos to them. They are guarded by devils called the Malebranche ("Evil Claws"), who provide some savage y satirical black comedy. The leader of the Malebranche, Malacoda ("Evil Tail"), assigns a troop to escort Virgilio y Dante safely to the next bridge. The troop hook y torment one of the sinners (identified by early commentators as Ciampolo), who names some Italian grafters y then tricks the Malebranche in order to escape back into the pitch. The promise of safe conduct the poets have received from the demons turns out to have limited value (and there is no "next bridge"​), so that the poets are forced to scramble down into the sixth Bolgia (Cantos XXI through XXIII).

• Bolgia 6: In the sixth Bolgia, the poets find the hypocrites listlessly walking along wearing gilded lead cloaks, which represent the falsity behind the surface appearance of their actions – falsity that weighs them down y makes spiritual progress impossible for them.​ Dante speaks with Catalano y Loderingo, two members of the Jovial Friars, an order which had acquired a reputation for not living up to its vows,​ y which was eventually suppressed by Pope Sixtus V. Caiaphas, the high priest responsible for ordering Jesus crucified, is also seen here, crucified to the ground y trampled (Canto XXIII).

• Bolgia 7: Two cantos are devoted to the thieves, who are guarded by the centaur Cacus, who has a fire-breathing dragon on his shoulders (in Roman mythology, Cacus was not a centaur, but a fire-breathing monster slain by Heracles). The thieves are pursued y bitten by snakes y lizards. The full horror of the thieves' punishment is revealed gradually: just as they stole other people's substance in life, their very identity becomes subject to theft here,​ y the snake bites make them undergo various transformations. Vanni Fucci is turned to ashes y resurrected; Agnello is blended with the six-legged reptile that is Cianfa; y Buoso exchanges shapes with the four-legged Francesco: "The soul that had become an animal, / now hissing, hurried off along the valley; / the other one, behind him, speaks y spits."​ (Cantos XXIV y XXV).

• Bolgia 8: Two further cantos are devoted to the fraudulent advisers or evil councillors, who are concealed within individual flames. These are not people who gave false advice, but people who used their position to advise others to engage in fraud.​ Ulysses y Diomedes are condemned here for the deception of the Trojan Horse. Ulysses also tells the tale of his fatal final voyage (an invention of Dante's), where he left his home y family to sail to the end of the Earth, only to have his ship founder near Mount Purgatory. Guido da Montefeltro recounts how he advised Pope Boniface VIII to capture the fortress of Palestrina, by offering the Colonna family inside it a false amnesty, y then razing it to the ground after they surrendered. Guido became a Franciscan in 1296, y died two years later. Guido describes St. Francis as coming to take his soul to Heaven, only to have a demon assert prior claim. Although Boniface had absolved Guido in advance for his evil advice, Dante points out the invalidity of that, since absolution requires contrition, y a man cannot be contrite for a sin at the same time that he is intending to commit it​ (Cantos XXVI y XXVII).

• Bolgia 9: In the ninth Bolgia, a sword-wielding demon hacks at the sowers of discord, dividing parts of their bodies as in life they divided others.​ As they make their rounds the wounds heal, only to have the demon tear apart their bodies again. Dante encounters Muhammad, who tells him to warn the schismatic y heretic Fra Dolcino. Dante describes Muhammad as a schismatic,​​ apparently viewing Islam as an off-shoot from Christianity, y similarly Dante seems to condemn Ali for schism between Sunni y Shiite (for more on Dante's relationship to Islam, see the relevant section of the main article). In this Bolgia, Dante also encounters Bertran de Born, who carries around his severed head like a lantern, as a punishment for (Dante believes) fomenting the rebellion of Henry the Young King against his father Henry II (Cantos XXVIII y XXIX).

• Bolgia 10: In the final Bolgia, various sorts of falsifiers (alchemists, counterfeiters, perjurers, y impersonators), who are a "disease" on society, are themselves afflicted with different types of diseases.​ Potiphar's wife is briefly mentioned here for her false accusation of Joseph, as is Sinon, the Greek spy who tricked the Trojans into taking the Trojan Horse into their city (Sinon is here, rather than in Bolgia 8, because his advice was false as well as evil). In the notes on her translation, Dorothy L. Sayers remarks that the descent through Malebolge "began with the sale of the sexual relationship, y went on to the sale of Church y State; now, the very money is itself corrupted, every affirmation has become perjury, y every identity a lie;"​ so that every aspect of social interaction has been progressively destroyed (Cantos XXIX y XXX).

Dante speaks to the traitors in the ice, Canto 32.

Noveno círculo (Traición)

The Ninth Circle is ringed by classical y Biblical giants, who perhaps symbolise the pride y other spiritual flaws lying behind acts of treachery.​ The giants are standing on a ledge above the ninth circle of Hell,​ so that from the Malebolge they are visible from the waist up. They include Nimrod, as well as Ephialtes, who with his brother Otus tried to storm Olympus. The giant Antaeus lowers Dante y Virgilio into the pit that forms the ninth circle of Hell (Canto XXXI).

The traitors are distinguished from the "merely" fraudulent in that their acts involve betraying a special relationship of some kind. There are four concentric zones (or "rounds") of traitors, corresponding, in order of seriousness, to betrayal of family ties, betrayal of community ties, betrayal of guests, y betrayal of liege lords. In contrast to the popular image of Hell as fiery, the traitors are frozen in a lake of ice known as Cocytus, with each group encased in ice to progressively greater depths.

• Round 1 is named Caïna, after Cain, who killed his brother. Traitors to kindred are here immersed in the ice up to their faces – "the place / where shame can show itself"​ Mordred, who attacked his relative King Arthur, is one of the traitors here: "him who, at one blow, had chest y shadow / shattered by Arthur's hand;"​ (Canto XXXII).

• Round 2 is named Antenora, after Antenor of Troy, who according to medieval tradition, betrayed his city to the Greeks. Traitors to political entities, such as party, city, or country, are located here. Count Ugolino pauses from gnawing on the head of his rival Archbishop Ruggieri to describe how Ruggieri imprisoned him along with his children, condemning them to death by starvation. A number of correspondences, such as allusions to the same passage of the Aeneid, link this passage to the story of Paolo y Francesca in the second circle,​ indicating that this icy hell of betrayal is the final result of consent to sin​ (Cantos XXXII y XXXIII).

• Round 3 is named Ptolomaea, probably after Ptolemy, son of Abubus, who invited Simon Maccabaeus y his sons to a banquet y then killed them.​ Traitors to their guests are punished here, lying supine in the ice, which covers them, except for their faces. They are punished more severely than the previous traitors, since the relationship to guests is an entirely voluntary one.​ Fra Alberigo, who had armed soldiers kill his brother at a banquet, explains that sometimes a soul falls here before Atropos cuts the thread of life. Their bodies on Earth are immediately possessed by a demon, so what seems to be a walking man has reached the stage of being incapable of repentance (Canto XXXIII).

• Round 4 is named Judecca, after Judas Iscariot, Biblical betrayer of Christ. Here are the traitors to their lords y benefactors. All of the sinners punished within are completely encapsulated in ice, distorted in all conceivable positions. With no one to talk to here, Dante y Virgilio quickly move on to the centre of Hell (Canto XXXIV).

Satan is trapped in the frozen central zone in the Ninth Circle of Hell, Canto 34.

In the very centre of Hell, condemned for committing the ultimate sin (personal treachery against God), is Satan (Lucifer). Satan is described as a giant, terrifying beast with three faces, one red, one black, y one a pale yellow:

he had three faces: one in front bloodred;
and then another two that, just above
the midpoint of each shoulder, joined the first;
and at the crown, all three were reattached;
the right looked somewhat yellow, somewhat white;
the left in its appearance was like those
who come from where the Nile, descending, flows.​

Satan is waist deep in ice, weeping tears from his six eyes, y beating his six wings as if trying to escape, although the icy wind that emanates only further ensures his imprisonment (as well as that of the others in the ring). Each face has a mouth that chews on a prominent traitor, with Brutus y Cassius feet-first in the left y right mouths respectively. These men were involved in the assassination of Julius Caesar—an act which, to Dante, represented the destruction of a unified Italy y the killing of the man who was divinely appointed to govern the world.​ In the central, most vicious mouth is Judas Iscariot—the namesake of Judecca y the betrayer of Jesus. Judas is being administered the most horrifying torture of the three traitors, his head gnawed by Satan's mouth, y his back being forever skinned by Satan's claws. What is seen here is a perverted trinity: Satan is impotent, ignorant, y full of hate, in contrast to the all-powerful, all-knowing, y loving nature of God.​

The two poets escape Hell by climbing down Satan's ragged fur, passing through the centre of the earth (with a consequent change in the direction of gravity), y emerge in the other hemisphere (described in the Purgatorio) just before dawn on Easter Sunday, beneath a sky studded with stars (Canto XXXIV).

Ver también

• Círculos del Infierno

Enlaces externos

• Wikimedia Commons alberga una categoría multimedia sobre Infierno.
• Wikisource contiene obras originales de o sobre Infierno (Divina comedia).
• World of Dante Multimedia website that offers Italian text of Divine Comedy, Allen Mandelbaum's translation, gallery, interactive maps, timeline, musical recordings, y searchable database for students y teachers by Deborah Parker y IATH (Institute for Advanced Technologies in the Humanities) of the University of Virginia
• Princeton Dante Project Website that offers the complete text of the Divine Comedy (and Dante's other works) in Italian y English along with audio accompaniment in both languages. Includes historical y interpretive annotation.
• Dante Dartmouth Project: Full text of more than 70 Italian, Latin, y English commentaries on the Commedia, ranging in date from 1322 (Iacopo Alighieri) to the 2000s (Robert Hollander)
• Dante's Divine Comedy presented by the Electronic Literature Foundation. Multiple editions, with Italian y English facing page y interpolated versions.
• The Comedy in English: trans. Cary (with Doré's illustrations) (HTML), trans. Cary (with Doré's illustrations) (zipped HTML downloadable from Project Gutenberg), Cary/Longfellow/Mandelbaum parallel edition
• On-line Concordance to the Divine Comedy
• Audiobooks: Public domain recordings from LibriVox (in Italian, Longfellow translation); some additional recordings
• Wikisummaries summary y analysis of "Inferno"
• Danteworlds, multimedia presentation of the Divine Comedy for students by Guy Raffa of the University of Texas
• Dante's Places: a map (still a prototype) of the places named by Dante in the Commedia, created with GoogleMaps. Explanatory PDF is available for download
• Inferno study guide, analysis, multimedia, teacher resources