Reading Notes Dante's Inferno Part A

Dante found himself in the middle of a dark wood. It was very harsh and frightening. He couldn't quite say how he got there. He was almost in a sleep-like state. He was fearful. When he was returning from the depths someone appeared. Dante cried out "Have pity on me!"

The figure replied, "I am not a man, but I once was. I was a poet. Why do you not climb the delightful mountain that is the cause of all joy?"

Dante answered, "Are you Virgil? Save me from here."

Virgil responded, "You must go another road if you wish to escape this savage place. No man can cross her path."

Finally Virgil said, "I think its best if you follow me. I will guide and lead you through here."

There were words on the gate to hell that Dante couldn't understand. Virgil told him it, "Here, all uncertainty must be left behind; all cowardice must be dead. We have come to the place where I told you that you would see the sad people who have lost the good of the intellect."

Sighs, complaints, and groans filled the air. Dante asked Virgil who was doing all the crying and what race they were. Virgil responded, "This is the miserable mode in which those exist who lived without praise, without blame. Heaven drove them out to maintain its beauty, and deep Hell does not accept them lest the evil have glory over them."

Then Dante asked what makes them groan so deeply. Virgil answered, "They have no hope of death, and their darkened life is so mean that they are envious of every other fate."

Dante looked back and saw a quickly moving banner. There was a line of people behind it. Then he looked onwards to the bank of the river, and he saw people. He asked Virgil who they were. Virgil told him he will know when they get to Acheron.

Spooky forest from Unsplash

Bibliography
Dante's Divine Comedy, translated by Tony Kline (2002).