DIVINE COMEDY

THE INFERNO


_Introduction._ In the Middle Ages it was popularly believed that
Lucifer, falling from heaven, punched a deep hole in the earth,
stopping only when he reached its centre. This funnel-shaped hole,
directly under Jerusalem, is divided by Dante into nine independent
circular ledges, communicating only by means of occasional rocky
stairways or bridges. In each of these nine circles are punished
sinners of a certain kind.

_Canto I._ In 1300, when thirty-five years of age, Dante claims to
have strayed from the straight path in the "journey of life," only to
encounter experiences bitter as death, which he relates in allegorical
form to serve as warning to other sinners. Rousing from a stupor not
unlike sleep, the poet finds himself in a strange forest at the foot
of a sun-kissed mountain. On trying to climb it, he is turned aside
by a spotted panther, an emblem of luxury or pleasure (Florence), a
fierce lion, personifying ambition or anger (France), and a ravening
wolf, the emblem of avarice (Rome). Fleeing in terror from these
monsters, Dante beseeches aid from the only fellow-creature he sees,
only to learn he is Virgil, the poet and master from whom he learned
"that style which for its beauty into fame exalts me."

Then Virgil reveals he has been sent to save Dante from the ravening
wolf (which also personifies the papal or Guelf party), only to guide
him through the horrors of the Inferno, and the sufferings of
Purgatory, up to Paradise, where a "worthier" spirit will attend him.