Dante and Virgil are in the eighth circle of Hell called Malebolge (evil ditches, pouches, ravines, moats) where Fraud is punished. There are ten bolgias (ditches) that punish different frauds. They are climbing out of the sixth bolgia which punished hypocrites. Next they are going over the seventh bolgia which punishes thieves. Virgil discovered the Malebranche demons from the fifth bolgia had lied to him and he had believed the lie. He is fallible.
There is a long description of their climbing out of the 6th bolgia. Dante uses some more earthy comparisons. Dante thinks Virgil is still angry after finding out the demons had lied to him but is relieved to find Virgil is back to his caring self just as a farmer who looks out to see what he thinks is snow but is relieved to find it is frost and he can still take his sheep to pasture. This is a transition from the 6th to the 7th bolgia.
They had a hard climb out of the 6th bolgia. Virgil has to help Dante, the pilgrim, and even then Dante was tired and out of breath when they reached the top.
To seem to be
Not too fatigued, I was talking while I trudged,
When a voice arose – one ill equipped to say
Actual words – from the new fosse we had reached.
I don’t know what it said, though I was now
At the high point of the bridge which overarched
The ditch there, but whoever spoke from below
Seemed to be moving. I turned quick eyes to peer
Down into the dark, but the bottom didn’t show –
…
Where the bridge’s end adjoins
The eighth bank, we descended, and then that pouch
Showed itself to me; I saw in its confinces
Serpents – a frightening swarm, of weird kinds such
As to remember now still chills my blood.
Let Libya boast no more of her sands so rich
In reptiles, for though they spawn the chelydrid,
Cenchres with amphisbaena, the jaculi
And phareae, she never, though one include
All Ethiopia and the lands that lie
On the Red Sea, has shown a pestilence
So numerous or of such malignancy.
Amid this horde, cruel, grim and dense,
People were running, naked and terrified,
Without a hope of hiding or a chance
At heliotrope for safety. Their hands were tied
Behind their backs – with snakes, that thrust between
Where the legs meet, entwining tail and head
Into a knot in front. And look! – at one
Near us a serpent darted, and transfixed
Him at the point where neck and shoulders join.
No o or i could be made with strokes as fast
As he took fire and burned and withered away,
Sinking; and when his ashes came to rest
Ruined on the ground, the dust spontaneously
Resumed its former shape. Just so expires
The Phoenix in its flames, great sages agree,
To be born again every five hundred years;
During its life, it feeds on neither grain
Nor herb but amomum and incense’s tears,
And at its end the sheet it’s shrouded in
Is essence of nard and myrrh. As one who falls
And knows not how – if a demon pulled him down,
Or another blockage human life entails –
And when he rises stares about confused
But the great anguish that he knows he feels,
And looking, sighs; so was that sinner dazed
When he stood up again. Oh, power of God!
How severe its vengeance is, to have imposed
Showers of such blows.
Exodus 20:15 (KJV) 15 Thou shalt not steal.
Leviticus 19:11 (BSB) 11 You must not steal. You must not lie or deceive one another.
Fosse – a long, narrow trench or excavation, especially in a fortification.
Chelydrid – The Chelydridae are a family of turtles that has seven extinct and two extant genera. The extant genera are the snapping turtles. The reptile Dante is referring to was said to move in a cloud of smoke.
Cenchris/cenchres – common coppery brown pit viper called a copperhead, venomous, semiaquatic.
Amphisbaena – is a mythological, ant-eating serpent with a head at each end. Its name comes from the Greek words amphis, meaning “both ways”, and bainein, meaning “to go”.
Jaculi – A jaculi, meaning “thrown” in Latin, is a small mythical serpent or dragon. It can be shown with wings and sometimes has front legs. It is also sometimes known as the javelin snake. It was said that the jaculus hid in the trees and sprang out at its victims. The force of it launching itself at the victim led to the association with javelins. Hurled through the air. It killed by the force of hitting it’s victim, not by venom.
Phareae – The Pharee use their tail to make holes in ground and hide, awaiting victims.
Heliotrope – We know heliotrope as a flower of the borage family. A Classical myth, told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, imagines that the water nymph, Clytie, in love with the sun god, Helios, was betrayed by him. Wasting away, she transformed into the heliotrope, whose flowers supposedly always face the sun. But it is also a green non-crystalline quartz spotted with red jasper known as bloodstone. It is a variety of jasper or chalcedony. The “classic” bloodstone is opaque green jasper with red inclusions of hematite. The name “heliotrope” comes from a combination of the Greek words for “sun” and “direction.” When placed in water in direct sunlight, the whole of it appears red. One legend says that it got its red spots from Christ’s blood falling on the stones beneath His feet. Another account says the blood is Phaeton’s who lost control of the Chariot of the Sun and crashed to earth. In any case, the color’s likeness to blood made it a suitable material in the early church for carved and engraved sacred objects. Heliotrope was called “stone of Babylon” by Albertus Magnus and he referred to several magical properties, which were attributed to it from Late Antiquity. Pliny the Elder (1st century) mentioned first that the magicians used it as a stone of invisibility. It was supposed to be effective against poison. Pliny says that it is “most blatant effrontery” that heliotrope, when combined with a plant of the same name, can confer invisibility. Boccaccio has his character, Calandrino, believing the stone renders him invisible after he collects it along the banks of the Mugnone. – Wikipedia and Brown.edu
Phoenix – A phoenix is a mythological bird that cyclically regenerates or is otherwise born again. Associated with fire and the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor. Some legends say it dies in a show of flames and combustion, others that it simply dies and decomposes before being born again. Most accounts say that it lived for 500 years before rebirth. Herodotus, Lucan, Pliny the Elder, Pope Clement I, Lactantius, Ovid, and Isidore of Seville are among those who have contributed to the retelling and transmission of the phoenix legend. – Wikipedia
“That rare bird was reputed to live 500 years and then to be reborn out of the ashes of its own perfumed funeral pyre. Christian exegetes thus easily took the phoenix as a symbol of Christ.” – Robert Hollander
Amomum – Is a large genus of herbs (allied to the ginger plant, family Zingiberaceae) found in tropical regions of the Old World. Amomum is a genus of plants native to China, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, and Queensland. It includes several species of cardamom, especially black cardamom. Plants of this genus are remarkable for their pungency and aromatic properties. As a spice to “season sweet dishes”, the seeds are used as flavoring for beverages, meats, ice cream, candy, and bread. It also has medicinal uses. It can be made into an essential oil.
Nard – Spikenard. It is a class of aromatic amber-colored essential oil derived from Nardostachys jatamansi, a flowering plant of the valerian family which grows in the Himalayas of Nepal, China, and India and has pink, bell-shaped flowers. The oil has been used over centuries as a perfume, a traditional medicine, or in incense. Rhizomes (underground stems) can be crushed and distilled into an intensely aromatic amber-colored essential oil with thick consistency. In ancient Rome, nardus was used to flavor wine, and occurs frequently in the recipes of Apicius. During the early Roman empire, nardus was the main ingredient of a perfume (unguentum nardinum), and Pliny’s Natural History lists twelve “species” of nardus. In the Hispanic iconographic tradition of the Catholic Church, the spikenard is used to represent Saint Joseph. The Vatican has said that the coat of arms of Pope Francis includes the spikenard in reference to Saint Joseph. – Wikipedia
Myrrh – It is a natural gum or resin extracted from a number of small, thorny tree species of the genus Commiphora. Myrrh resin has been used throughout history as a perfume, incense, and medicine. Myrrh mixed with wine was common across ancient cultures, for general pleasure and as an analgesic. When a wound on a tree penetrates through the bark and into the sapwood, the tree secretes a resin. Myrrh gum, like frankincense, is such a resin. Myrrh is harvested by repeatedly wounding the trees to bleed the gum, which is waxy and coagulates quickly. After the harvest, the gum becomes hard and glossy. The gum is yellowish and may be either clear or opaque. It darkens deeply as it ages, and white streaks emerge. Liquid myrrh, or stacte, written about by Pliny, was an ingredient of Jewish holy incense. For medicinal uses, it is antiseptic and used in mouthwashes, gargles, toothpastes. As an analgesic (pain reliever) for bruises, aches, sprains. It is a remedy for indigestion, ulcers, colds, cough, asthma, lung congestion, arthritis pain and cancer. It has “blood moving” powers. Myrrh is mentioned as a rare perfume in several places in the Hebrew Bible. Myrrh was an ingredient of Ketoret: the consecrated incense used in the First and Second Temples at Jerusalem, as described in the Hebrew Bible and Talmud. An offering was made of the Ketoret on a special incense altar and was an important component of the temple service. Myrrh is also listed as an ingredient in the holy anointing oil used to anoint the tabernacle, high priests and kings. Myrrh is mentioned in the New Testament as one of the three gifts (with gold and frankincense) that the magi “from the East” presented to the Christ Child (Matthew 2:11). According to John’s Gospel, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea brought a 100-pound mixture of myrrh and aloes to wrap Jesus’ body (John 19:39). As Jesus was on the cross, he was given vinegar to drink mingled with myrrh (Mark 15:23). He refused to drink it so as to experience the full pain of our sins. – Wikipedia
Amid this horde, cruel, grim and dense,
People were running, naked and terrified,
Without a hope of hiding or a chance
At heliotrope for safety. Their hands were tied
Behind their backs
These people are completely vulnerable yet they are still trying to run and hide. They are naked; they are running; they have no hope of hiding or invisibility. Their hands are tied behind their back. Who else do we know was naked, caught in sin but who tried to hide?
Genesis 2:7-10;15-18; (BSB) 7 Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed. 9 Out of the ground the LORD God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it branched into four headwaters:…
15 Then the LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.
16 And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”
18 The LORD God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.”…
21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he slept, He took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the area with flesh. 22 And from the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man, He made a woman and brought her to him.
Genesis 3:1-13;21 (BSB) 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’ ”
2 The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, 3 but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You must not eat of it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”
4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent told her. 5 “For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
7 And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed together fig leaves and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
9 But the LORD God called out to the man, “Where are you?”
10 “I heard Your voice in the garden,” he replied, “and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
11 “Who told you that you were naked?” asked the LORD God. “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
12 And the man answered, “The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
“The serpent deceived me,” she replied, “and I ate.”…
21 And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them.
Why am I comparing the thieves with Adam and Eve? God had created Adam and Eve, perfect, immortal and pure. He provided for them in every way. They were naked in the Garden of Eden but it didn’t bother them. Why? Because they had nothing to be afraid of. God provided and protected them utterly and in every way. There was no need to be afraid of anything and their ability to be totally vulnerable and, yet, unafraid is what true faith is. When we can so trust God to take care of everything that we fear nothing is the epitome of faith. Just think about it. They didn’t have to wear shoes because they were not afraid of a sharp stick puncturing them. God would not allow that to happen. They didn’t have to be afraid of a snake bite on their unprotected ankles because God would not have allowed that. They didn’t have to worry about hail hitting their unprotected heads as God would not have allowed that to happen. They didn’t have to be afraid of shame, or comparisons or mockery because God would not allow that. There was nothing to harm them in that Garden so they experienced no fear and could totally be themselves in the presence of God. It’s just beyond our ability to truly comprehend that kind of total trust. It is what we were designed for. Sin marred it.
When Adam and Eve chose to listen to satan and disobey God, they experienced that first lack of trust and faith. Was God holding out on them? Couldn’t they be like God? Why not be like God? And all those sinful doubts, questions and desires rose up in them. Sin destroyed their complete faith and trust in God. The part of their being that had unfettered and continual access to God had died – their spirit. Now, suddenly, they knew what it was to doubt the protection and provision of God. God was still there and God still loved them. He would continue to protect and provide but something had changed in THEM. They no longer trusted God like they had before. So being naked was different now. They no longer felt they could be themselves and be vulnerable. They thought they had to protect themselves.
Knowing they were separated from God by their own actions, they realized they were naked, vulnerable and afraid. They tried to cover themselves with fig leaves and hide from God. They had stolen from God with forethought and intent. God had created perfect and pure life, including making them in His image and giving them His breath of life. But they had chosen sin and the wages of sin is death. Their spirits died and their bodies would eventually die. They had stolen “life” from God. The life He created by creating Adam and Eve. And all their descendants would also be born with a sinful nature and die. All of that God breathed life had been stolen from God. His creation, stolen by satan, sin and willful disobedience.
Life is in the blood. It is why God required a blood sacrifice to atone for the loss of life. But, only perfect blood could truly atone and there were no perfect people any more. Who could pay the price? God provided the Lamb, His Son, who was born of God but also born of a woman. He was perfectly and purely divine but also a human being. He was not born with a sinful nature nor did He sin during His earthly life. So He was the only one who could pay the price and He did. Now, if we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, our spirits are born. Making us a three part being like God created Adam and Eve to be to begin with. Our bodies will still die, but Jesus promises they will be resurrected and join with our spirit and soul once again in the end and they will be perfect and immortal as Adam and Eve were created.
Remember the heliotrope was a bloodstone and the legend has it that it was the made from the drops of Christ’s blood that fell on the stones below the cross. It supposedly rendered one invisible. These thieves don’t have that stone and suffer from being totally visible to the snakes. People who have accepted Jesus Christ are invulnerable to the effects of sin. We are clothed with the blood of Jesus, His righteousness. Which, in effect, makes us invisible to God’s judgment against unrepented sin. Remember how God sent the Angel of Death to kill the firstborn of the Egyptians. He told Moses to have the Israelites sacrifice perfect lambs the evening before it happened and to paint the blood on the doors, sills and lintels of their homes and stay inside. When the Angel of Death came, it passed over those homes as though they were invisible and no one died in the judgment. But all the other homes had people who died.
These serpents are reminding us of satan who tempted Eve in the form of a serpent.
Genesis 3:14-19 (BSB) 14 So the LORD God said to the serpent:
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and every beast of the field!
On your belly will you go,
and dust you will eat,
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your seed and her seed.
He will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
16 To the woman He said:
“I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth;
in pain you will bring forth children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
17 And to Adam He said:
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten from the tree
of which I commanded you not to eat,
cursed is the ground because of you;
through toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
18 Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your bread,
until you return to the ground—
because out of it were you taken.
For dust you are,
and to dust you shall return.”
In this scripture, the first prophecy of Jesus Christ appears. God tells the serpent that there will be “enmity between your seed and her Seed, He will crush your head and you will strike his heel”. Indicating that Jesus would be harmed but He would survive the encounter while He would deliver satan a mortal wound by crushing his head. In this bolgia, the sinners are definitely being attacked by their enemies, the serpents. And the serpents are winning here. Whereas, satan didn’t win with Jesus Christ (and all those who accept Jesus Christ as their Savior), here the serpents win. They torture and kill the sinners and the sinners only dissolve to dust and then resurrect to be attacked over and over again for eternity.
2 Corinthians 11:3 (BSB) I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.
A metamorphoses occurs where the sinner returns to the dust he came from but is resurrected to undergo the horror over and over again. Christians experience a metamorphoses when they accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God and their Savior. Our minds are changed when we realize our sins damn us to judgment and our only hope is through Jesus Christ. This is repentance. With repentance and this change of mind, comes a new birth. Our spirit is born to make us once again the three part being that God created us to be. God is three parts and He made us in His image but sin killed our spirit. Salvation through Jesus Christ causes our spirit to be born, we are “born again”. When our earthly bodies die, our spirit and soul go to Paradise to await the resurrection of our bodies. Jesus will resurrect our bodies and they will be perfect and immortal again, to join our spirits and souls. We will be complete in Him once again. This metamorphoses will occur once and we will live in eternity in Heaven with God!
“The seventh bolgia features metamorphoses, changes of shape that are violently inflicted by serpents upon sinners. We will eventually learn that the serpents are themselves sinners who have previously been changed to serpents. The vicious circularity of the bolgia of the thieves is therefore absolute.” – DigitalDante.columbia.edu
In Dante’s Inferno Canto 12, there were violent robbers in the river of blood. Here, Canto 24, there are fraudulent thieves. In Canto 25, you will find a Centaur named Cacus, who is NOT with the other Centaurs who inhabited and guarded the first ring of the circle of violence in Canto 12. This points out the difference between the robbers in one and the thieves in the other. Remember the circle of violence punished those who were violent towards others, their persons and their possessions. These thieves, who took others’ belongings, now have their only remaining belonging — their human form — taken from them. These thieves came to their victims upon the basis of trust and betrayed someone’s trust to blatantly steal from them.
My first thought is in Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. The main character is Jean Valjean. As a young person his remaining family is starving and he steals bread. He is caught and sent to prison for 19 years. He serves 14 more years for attempts to escape. Eventually he pays for his crime and is released. But the problem lies when he tries to find employment so he can survive. Every town he goes to, he must go to the mayor and admit he was a convict. No one wants a convict in their town. They don’t trust him and run him out. He is to the point of starving again and he meets Bishop Myriel who gives him food and shelter for the night. Valjean takes advantage of the Bishop’s generosity by getting up in the night and stealing some of the silver. Inspector Javert, of the police, captures Valjean and returns him, and the silver, to Bishop Myriel. Myriel pretends that he had given the silverware to Valjean and even presses him to take what he’d left behind, two silver candlesticks, as if he had forgotten to take them. Javert doesn’t believe the Bishop but has to accept his explanation and leave. But Inspector Javert never forgets Valjean and hunts him the rest of his life. Bishop Myriel tells Valjean that his life has been spared for God, and that he should use money from the silver candlesticks to make an honest man of himself. This is life-changing for Valjean. He is repentant. His mind is changed and he does try to walk in this change. He leaves behind the bitterness, fear, and unforgiveness and he uses the silver to establish himself in a new town where he starts a factory and becomes wealthy. But he treats his employees well and the rest of the story is how he takes care of a poor prostitute, Fantine, and her little daughter, whom he adopts at Fantine’s death. Wonderful novel and it’s been made into a wonderful musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Another thought occurred to me – catfishing. This refers to men and women who “meet” victims on the internet and create a whole story in order to fool their victims into trusting them. Then they proceed to steal as much as they can get from these hapless victims who believe their stories. Men who prey on lonely women and women who prey on lonely men just to steal from them. These catfishers may have dozens of scams going on at the same time and they are milking money from these trusting people.
Con men who pretend to have a money making scheme or who establish relationships with people just to steal from them. Pyramid schemes, marriage schemes (pretending to be in love but only trying to ingratiate themselves so they can steal everything), cons. These types of theft are based on getting someone to trust them enough to let them have access to what they want in order to steal you blind.
Identity thieves who learn what they can about you and use it to pretend to be you. A metamorphoses of sorts where they become you to steal from you and ruin your life.
Those in places and offices of trust such as politicians, priests and ministers, heads of charities, etc. who embezzle and steal from those who trusted them.
At least, Jean Valjean repented and was forgiven for his thefts. But these sinners did not repent.
And look! – at one
Near us a serpent darted, and transfixed
Him at the point where neck and shoulders join.
No o or i could be made with strokes as fast
As he took fire and burned and withered away,
Sinking; and when his ashes came to rest
Ruined on the ground, the dust spontaneously
Resumed its former shape…
My leader asked the shade
to tell us who he was. “The time is brief
Since I rained down from Tuscany,” he replied,
“Into this gullet. It was a bestial life,
Not human, that pleased me best, mule that I was.
I am Vanni Fucci, beast – and aptly enough,
Pistoia was my den.” And, “Master, please
Bid him not slip away, but ask what sin
It was,” I said, “that thrust him to this place,
For in his time I have known him as a man
Of blood and rage.” The sinner, who had heard,
Without dissembling turned mind and face – which shone
The color of shame – to me; then he declared,
“That you have caught me here amid this grief
Causes me suffering worse than I endured
when I was taken from the other life.
I cannot refuse your question: I must be
Thrust this far down because I was a thief
Who took adornments from the sacristy –
For which another, falsely, was condemned.
But, lest you delight too much in what you see
If ever you escape from this dark ground:
Open your ears to what I now pronounce,
And listen. First, Pistoia strips her land
Of Blacks, then Florence changes her citizens
And ways. From Val Di Magra, Mars draws a great
Vapor, and thick clouds muffle its turbulence
Till stormy, bitter, impetuous war breaks out
On Camp Piceno – where suddenly, it breaks through
And tears the mist and strikes at every White:
And I have told it to bring grief to you.”
Vanni Fucci di Pistoia was an illegitimate son of the Lazzari family of Pistoia. He was a Black Guelph who lived in Pistoia not far from Florence. He replied that he stole a treasure from the Church of St. James in his hometown. In 1293, during a night of Carnival, Vanni stole holy objects from a chapel in the Pistoian cathredral. Vanni escaped from Pistoia, terrorizing people in the countryside. An innocent man was accused. Vanni didn’t care about him. But then it was established that Vanni was the true culprit. He gave up his accomplice, Vanni Della Nona, for which Della Nona was executed. He was declared guilty in absentia (as a killer and thief), but he “disappeared” and he was never punished. He died sometime after 1295 after leaving Pistoia. Vanni was a violent and murderous man but he is in the bolgia that punishes theft. When Dante asks why he is here, he turns red in embarrassment and shame. Not because he’s sorry for what he did, but because he was caught and made to pay the consequences for what he did by God. He describes himself as being pleased to have had a “bestial life, not human”. That “bestial life” “pleased” him best. It was the life he chose for himself because he liked it. He also admits he had been a bastard, “mule that I was”, and it had colored his life. He gave in to the anger and lived the life he chose based on that anger. Deflecting his rage onto others. Like an animal den, Pistoia was his “den”. Because Dante has made him confess what he did and embarrassed him, “that you have caught me here amid this grief causes me suffering worse than I endured when I was taken from the other life.” This is the crux of the matter. He never repented and he still doesn’t repent, even though suffering in Hell from his own actions and choices. Even when he first died and faced the judgment of being sent to Hell… even though he suffers for eternity… he has no repentance. Dante asked him what his crime was that sentenced him there. This amounts to confession of his sin which caused him suffering more than anything else. Why do we resist repentance and confession? It goes against our evil human nature. We want to clutch our ridiculous fig leaves to ourselves and pretend we didn’t do anything wrong. Because Dante asked a simple question, and the embarrassed and ashamed Vanni had to answer, he suddenly hates Dante. This is a man of hate, and a man who has always deflected onto others (as he did his accomplice Della Nona). So he focuses his rage now on Dante and begins to prophesy. Pistoia’s White Guelphs will drive out the Black party in 1301; Florence’s Blacks will do the same in the same year to the Whites in Florence which ends with Dante’s exile because he was of the White party. In 1302 the Blacks of Pistoia, allied with Moroello Malaspina. This vapor or lightning flash from Val di Magra is the Marquis Malaspini, and the “turbid clouds” are the banished Neri (Blacks) of Pistoia, whom he gather about him to defeat the Bianchi (Whites) at Serravalle near Campo Piceno, the old battle-field of Catiline. Some understand that Vanni also (or only) refers to the eventual Black victory over the Whites in Pistoia itself in 1306. Then he shouts to Dante that he tells him this to “bring grief to you”! So this man who lived like a wild animal is still snarling and biting at air in Hell. And it doesn’t end here.
Luke 24:46-47 (BSB, Jesus speaking) 46 And He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and in His name repentance and forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.”
Acts 3:17-20 (ESV) 17 “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.
18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.
19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,
20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,
2 Corinthians 7:9-10 (BSB) 9 And now I rejoice, not because you were made sorrowful, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you felt the sorrow that God had intended, and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
Psalm 38:18 (BSB) Yes, I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.
James 5:16 (BSB) Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Proverbs 28:13 Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
When you sin, choose confession. Confess to Jesus Christ and ask His forgiveness. You may also be led to confess to someone else. Saying it outloud or apologizing. It’s hard because it goes against our flesh. It means being humble. But set aside your pride and receive healing.
Excerpts of Inferno are from a new translation by Robert Pinsky.
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