Summary: Canto XXVII
After hearing Ulysses’ story, Virgil and Dante start down
their path again, only to be stopped by another flame-immersed soul.
This soul lived in Italy’s Romagna region, and now, hearing Dante
speak the Lombard tongue, he asks for news of his homeland. Dante
replies that Romagna suffers under violence and tyranny but not
outright war. He then asks the soul his name, and the sinner, believing
that Dante will never leave the abyss and thus will be unable to
spread word of his infamy, consents to tell him.
He introduces himself as Guido da Montefeltro and states
that he was originally a member of the Ghibellines. After a time,
he underwent a religious conversion and joined a Franciscan monastery,
but he was then persuaded by Pope Boniface VIII to reenter politics
on the opposing side. At one point, Boniface asked him for advice
on how to conquer Palestrina (formerly called Penestrino, it served
as the fortress of the Ghibelline Colonna family). Da Montefeltro showed
reluctance, but Boniface promised him absolution in advance, even
if his counsel were to prove wrong. He then agreed to give his advice,
which turned out to be incorrect. When he died, St. Francis came
for him, but a devil pulled him away, saying that a man could not
receive absolution before sinning, for absolution cannot precede
repentance and repentance cannot precede the sin. Such preemptive
absolution he deemed “contradictory,” and thus invalid. Calling
himself a logician, the devil took da Montefeltro to Minos, who
deemed the sinner guilty of fraudulent counsel and assigned him
to the Eighth Pouch of the Eighth Circle of Hell.
Summary: Canto XXVIII
Virgil and Dante continue on to the Ninth Pouch, where
they see a line of souls circling perpetually. Dante sees they bear
wounds worse than those suffered at the battles at Troy and Ceparano.
A devil stands at one point of the circle with a sword, splitting
open each sinner who walks by. One of the sinners speaks to Dante
as he passes—it is Mohammed, prophet of the Muslims. These are the Sowers
of Scandal and Schism, and for their sins of division they themselves
are split apart. Worse, as they follow the circle around, their
wounds close up so that they are whole by the time they come back
to the sword, only to be struck again.
Many others in this line look up at Dante, hearing his
living voice. The Italians among them beg Dante to carry messages
to certain men still living on Earth. They make predictions of a
shipwreck and give a warning for Fra Dolcino, who is in danger of
joining them when he dies. Finally, Dante sees a man carrying his
own head in his hands: it is Bertran de Born, who advised a young
king to rebel against his father.
Summary: Canto XXIX
Virgil reprimands Dante for staring so long at the wounded
souls, reminding him that their time is limited; this time, however,
Dante stubbornly follows his own inclination. He takes note of one
more soul, an ancestor of his who died unavenged.
Finally, Virgil and Dante follow the ridge down
and to the left until they can see the Tenth Pouch below them. This
pouch houses the Falsifiers, and it is divided into four zones.
In the First Zone, souls huddle in heaps and sprawl out on the ground.
Scabs cover them from head to foot; they scratch at them furiously
and incessantly.
