Dante Book III Canto XXV111 Scene I

 Canto XXVIII

The Eighth Circle: Fraud

Bolgia 9: Sowers of Discord

Scene I

 

Dante and Virgil left the fields and came to a valley where he saw rows of caves seen from there.

“Please let me rest, Virgil. The last bolgia was brutal to my thoughts. The Count was ---” Dante was cut off by the other.

“I will call him a beast in his works and beliefs that he purported to hold. He is the worst from the ones we met. They had sins but no sins will greater than the purveyor of mass destruction not by his own hands but advocated by his means.” Virgil sighed. “We are not judged. It’s here that they are revealed their sins.”

“Virgil, tell me if anyone of while living held no sins? If no, we were allowed to repent but why when I had said, the shackles of sins may not be totally unlocked for some.”

“It may not be for Man was with a mind that may turned to the situation then, and its reaction unforeseen.” Virgil said. “Just when someone takes another’s life by anger, it may be argued that it was unforeseen but some acts of anger are foretold when the emotion dictate that act.”

“In the courts of Man, its was named as manslaughter.” Dante argued.

“If a man killed because he was angry but his anger was to take that life, would that be premediated?” Virgil asked.

“I wouldn’t know. I am not a barrister at law. I am a theology student but I will attempt an answer. That will be a murder but it’s up to the laws of Man to decide. The accused however upon death, the soul will be judged here.” Dante replied. “I can see your logic query, but in the living realm, we are judging each other as equal in breath and blood but here in Hell, or even to Heaven, we are judged by God. And God will be fair to all.”

“Or we are doomed to go through Hell. What a whack job that will be?” Virgil shifted to his sarcastic mood. He saw the frown on Dante’s expression and apologized.

“I meant no harm but will be apologetic if I did. After all, I am or rather was a living soul. We make mistakes.”

“Not all mistakes are forgiven that easily.” Dante then turned to the caves seen by him. “What dwells there?”

They approached the caves. Another dark shade cherub sat there on the boulder was seen and then greeted the duo.

“Are you the two souls that traversed Hell?” The cherub spoke.

“Yes, we are. I am Dante and he is Virgil.” Dante replied.

“Do you ever argue on your journey here? There must be things that both of you may agree and some which you may not.” The cherub asked.

“There were at times, I felt like hammering his head in but I can’t. I am a soul here without a tangible form.” Virgil rushed to the answer.

“Why do you ask, cherub?” Dante looked at the dark shade cherub. It was normally he was the one who questioned there in Hell.

“I asked for where you are to step into is the pits of Discord. Its where the sinners who committed discord in the living realm are punished. That includes schism. You know what schism is?”

“The Great Schism came about due to a complex mix of religious disagreements and political conflicts.
That was how Dante perceived the meaning. “These religious disagreements were made worse by a variety of political conflicts.” (https://www.nationalgeographic.org/thisday/jul16/great-schism/#:~:text=The%20Great%20Schism%20came%20about,for%20the%20sacrament%20of%20communion.).

“For myself, the philosophical approach of it was at the intersection of logic and ontology.” Virgil interjected in. He saw the frown on Dante’s expression. “However, I will not interject on the matter for now.” (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-ontology/#DifConOnt).

“Or I may be excommunicated by my companion.” Virgil muttered before he turned away.

“Yes, schism can also occur anywhere be it religion or politics, or when rival, hate-filled political parties are formed, or within families, as when a son and a father hate each other.” The dark shade cherub spoke. “And discord appear. With it, breakdown in relationship and the concept of co-existence. You would had seen it first hand, Dante in the war.”

Dante recalled the many moments discord had occurred in the war, when friends fought over many issues like the loss of their other friends, the urge to kill because the other was their enemy yet having not seen to hurt them but the insignia of the uniform was the bearer of hate. He had seen the “great spoils of golden rings” in the bloody battles as if they were reliving the ancient Punic War when Roman soldiers were killed, and Carthaginian soldiers gathered three bushels of gold rings from the fingers of the dead Roman soldiers.

“What is done then was a sin and it will punish here?” Virgil asked out.

“To those whom are judged to cause divisions, whether within religions or within politics or within families. They are punished by being slit by a devil with a sword.” The cherub replied. “Step into the bolgia and viewed for yourself. Judge me not for I am just the ---.”

“Executioner, we met.” Virgil cut in. The walk into the valley and they saw the bloody punishment taken on those with that sin.

“That is Curio, who advised Julius Caesar to cross the Rubicon River into Italy, although the Roman Senate had forbade him to do that.” Dante saw Curio had his tongue removed and then sent off.

“He will return soon when his tongue had grown back and there it will be removed. Such is the punishment of the one who spoke in treason.” The cherub continued on. “There is someone close to your home. Mosca dei Lamberti, who contributed to the development of the Guelf and the Ghibelline factions in Florence.”

“And there walk the one named Bertran de Born caused a son to rebel against his father; therefore, his punishment is to have his head chopped off.”

“A just punishment.” Dante said then. “The perfect contrapasso”.

The contrapasso derived from the Latin words contra and patior, which mean "suffer the opposite." Contrapasso refers to the punishment of souls by a process is either resembling or contrasting with the sin itself." It was a harsh term used by Dante there. (Extracted from https://www.missskirtich.com/uploads/2/3/3/7/23374820/inferno_discussion_guide.pdf. Pg 157)

“Stay your emotions, poet.” Virgil reminded Dante.

“I am fine. As said by one author of many generations ago, “If the soul is left in darkness sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but he who causes the darkness. Victor Hugo in Les Miserables. That is their real sin.”

“I had enough. I want to leave.” Dante called out then.