Canto XXXI
The Eighth Circle:
Fraud
Bolgia 10: Central Well of Malabolge
Scene I
Dante in his previous trail had never felt the need
to put on thicker clothes for it was not uncomfortably hot despite being near
the boiling pits, or even when he climbed the mountain with its slippery slopes
and snow flakes covered the walk, he felt not the need for the warm clothes.
It was not then when they reached the next bolgia
on his journey. Dante looked towards his companion and saw the other was as if
he was taking a casual stroll in the park. Virgil felt the look on him and
turned to look at Dante.
“Did you address me on some concerns?” Virgil was
without a sweat nor any coldness affected him. “I can read your mind. Do you
know that we the souls here does harbour some forms of ----telepathy?”
“I need to rest. Can we set a fire place here? I am
feeling cold.” Dante looked to Virgil. “You are not telepathic. You merely had
known I was cold and needed the rest.”
“I had known?” Virgil asked. “Are you into one of
your moods again? Perhaps you are the one who is telepathic.”
“I am not, for clairvoyant is not real, as fortune
telling. You had seen that is a sin punishable in Hell.” Dante reminded his
companion. “For myself, I am indeed cold and miserable from the walk. I will
ask once more, if we can get warmth for myself.”
“Perhaps Hell freezes over.” Virgil laughed. “As in
the words of the Bard; Hell is empty and all the devils are here. If that was
true, that could be why Hell had freeze over.”
“Heaven truly knows that thou art
false as hell. I stand to give you another of the Master himself. If your words
are to be trusted, then I am doomed to fail.” Dante said to Virgil. “I can see
us bantering words but it will not warm my joints. Do get me the warmth I
need.”
“I am bantering with you
nor am I getting you the warmth for there is none. We need to move on. I
believe that we reached the last of our journey here.” Virgil looked at Dante.
“When I was in Limbo, I met a poet there who told me of the place we are in. He
told me of the Circles in Hell; he referred them as Circles of the Inferno.”
“If we are near our end,
then where is my Beatrice? Did we missed her behind us but she had done no
sins, except the sacrifice of our love to fulfil her destiny.” Dante felt
disappointed that his task may be fruitless. “If I can’t find her, I might as
well be dead. Let my soul wander here for eternity.”
“When are you a
defeatist, Dante? Beatrice is not seen does not mean she is ---lost. She may
had gone on ahead of us.” Virgil looked at the poet. “What is the discomfort
here compared to finding your love?”
Dante’s head slumped to
his chest then. He had felt the shame on his name then.
“Enough of self-soul
searching. Our task awaits completion, and we are in the last of the bolgia in
the Eight Circle.” Virgil said. “It’s said to be the Well of Malabolge. If I am
not mistaken, we will ---”
The duo
reached the final bolgia.
“It’s
deceiving to call it a Well. It’s a valley filled with
ice and cold, strong winds supposedly caused by Lucifer beating his wings.”
Virgil explained the scene before them. “We need to go past it, poet. Hold onto
your frame and try not to be blown away.”
“I will.” Dante replied and walked into the winds. As he progressed on
each step with his mind still assaulted by the icy winds, Dante thought he saw
a city with many towers in the distance, but Virgil tells him that his eyes
deceive him.
“Those are not the towers you see but by the look of it, Giants, plugged
into the centre of the valley up to their waists frozen by the icy winds and
icicles were seen on the frame.” Virgil spoke to Dante. “It was said that the feet of the giants are on the floor
of the Ninth Circle, while their torsos and heads stick up over the far edge of
the Eighth Circle, thus giving the appearance of towers.” (https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/inferno/inferno-31/)
The latter saw then the sight of the huge Man look alike seen from the
waist. Each sight towered over him by five times the heights of the Man, and
four times his dimension with the longer upper arms.
“Nephilim. The grotesque creation of the Fallen with the women of the
realm. These off springs are the result of their union.” Dante cursed at the
giants. “Nature was wise to discontinue the creation of these monsters.”
“Harsh words to use on them. They are no different from the creation of
our own, except they held different qualities.” Virgil reprimanded Dante. “How
can you judge their creators when they held no fault to what was created then.
As any child born with defects, do we condemned them or lay aside our love for
them? Its un-humane to do so.”
“Nephilim is the sign that we are not to interact in union. The result
of two breeds created monster.” Dante replied in disgust. “You should know that
the cross breeding resulted in abominations.”
Cross breeding was advocated to quell mankind of food like as in flowers.
Different animals were tested with cloning experiment and the result was disaster.
Soon after that, the works of any forms of cloning was stopped.
“I am aware of it and even as we argued, Man need not the breeding to
make them monster. Some of them act like one; prideful and arrogant, men who pursued a will to dominance
like that of the giants.” (https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/inferno/inferno-31/).
“They are lined up in a
circle facing each other and before the river there.” Dante told Virgil of his
observations. “It’s as if they are arranged like towers that resembled what we
have at the ring of Monteriggioni, a circular fortress built by the Sienese as
a front in their war against the Florentines.”
Monteriggioni
is a medieval walled town, located on a natural hillock, built by
the Sienese in 1214–19 as a front line in their wars
against Florence by assuming command of the Via
Cassia running through the Val d'Elsa and Val Staggia to the west. The
city was strategically placed as a defensive fortification. In 1554 the Sienese
were able to place control of the town's garrison to Giovannino Zeti, who had
been exiled from Florence, and Zeti later handed the keys of the town over to the
Medicean forces; an act that was still considered a "great betrayal"
by the town's people. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monteriggioni).
“Who
are they?’ Dante asked. He then the roar of one of the giant calling out but not
understood its words.
“I see not my horn, I hear what without my horn, I am here without a
horn.” Dante heard the voice of the giant before him. The voice cracking in
pain made no sense to the listener.
“I don’t understand what is spoken.” Dante looked to Virgil. “What does
he want?”
“He is Nimrod, the one who build the tower of Babel.” Another of the
cherub appeared. That one had on the thick cloak over the shoulders. It looked
at Dante and asked.
“Did you not feel the coldness here? I did. We are at the entrance to
the Ninith Circle. One where the Fallen ones dwelled in banishment.”
“I do which was why I wanted to move on fast.” Dante replied. “And who
are you and could you direct us out?”
“I will but for a start, they are not Nephilim but giants.”
“Nimrod, the legendary king of Babylon,
constructed the Tower of Babel to reach heaven, but he was prevented from doing
so by a confusion of tongues. This Giant is damned to spend eternity babbling,
without any comprehension of himself or others. The second Giant, Ephialtes,
son of Neptune, warred against the gods, and so has his arms bound so that he
can do no more harm. The third Giant, Antaeus, is there for the many murders he
committed; he should be in another circle, but suffers with the other Giants
merely because of his nature as a Giant.” (https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/d/the-divine-comedy-inferno/summary-and-analysis/canto-xxxi).
“This is the
Lower Hell and the sinners here are of envy and pride. The pride of the Giants
and also their extreme evil joined with brute force and evil will caused them
to be banished here. Their repentance is also here
and acts as guards to the entrance of the next Circle where the river Cocytus
flows.” The cherub explained it all. “Come forth, the one who was to leave
Hell. Antaeus will carry you into Cocytus and from there to the last Circle.”
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