Lily Alioto Cantos XI-XII

Canto XI

• The inner edge of circle 6


• The sinners in this circle are the Heritics, who are those who did violence to God by denying immortality.


• The punishment for the Heretics is they lay in an eternal, fiery grave that is sealed forever on the Day of Judgement.


• The retribution for this sin is a death within a death. Since the Heretics believe in the soul dying with the body, their soul is truly buried forever.


• One of the key Heretic sinners was Pope Anastasius. Dante and Virgil hide behind his tomb that was sealed forever.


• A key plot point in this canto is Virgil outlines the divisions of lower hell for Dante.

In canto XI, the poets find themselves in the inner edge of the sixth circle. This is the last step before they reach the divisions of lower Hell. Once they reach the inner edge, Virgil and Dante are surrounded by jumbles the rocks and leftover rubble of what used to be a cliff. When Christ died, a great earthquake shook Hell and demolished the area. The air is tainted with the awful stence of the Seventh Circle, which lies just below them. Until they are accustomed to the stench, Dante and Virgil take refuge behind the tomb of Pope Anastasius, which is when Virgil takes the time to outline the division of the lower Hell for Dante. When he concludes, Dante becomes aware of the motion of the stars and realizes that it is only a few hours from Holy Saturday.

Explain in detail why God despises fraud the most. The answer can be fround in the quote below, found in Canto XI, page 104, lines 22-27.

"Malice is the sin most hated by God. And the aim of malice is to injure others whether by fraud or violence. But since fraud is the vice by which man alone is capable, God loathes it most."

Canto XII

• Circle 7, Round 1.
• The sinners of this canto are the violent against their neighbors.
• The punishment is to be submersed in the river of blood, the deeper you are the greater the degree of your sin.
• The retribution is since these sinners wallowed in blood while they were alive, they are immersed in the boiling blood forever.
• The key sinners and monsters in this canto are Alexander the Great, Attila the scourge of God, the centaurs and the minotaur.
• The main plot point in this canto is the poets enter circle seven, and the division of lower hell.

Canto XII is the begining of lower Hell. The poets are confronted by the minotaur as they enter the seventh circle. Virgil tricks the beast and tells Dante to run while the moster is blind with rage. They come upon the river of boiling blood, where the violent against their neighbors are being punished. They are submersed into the blood depending on the degree of the sin they committed. On the banks of the river are the centaurs, who shoot any soul that raises themselves too far out of the blood. Immersed in the deepest part of the river are Alexander the Great and Attila, who are up to their lashes in blood. The centaurs challenge the poets, but Virgil persuades Chiron, the cheif, who grants them safe passage. Nessus is assigned to take Dante and Virgil through the river. He carries the poets until they are only up to their ankles in blood, then races back to his patrol.

What group of sinners is Virgil referring to in the quote found in canto XII, page 112, lines 46-47.

"But turn your eyes to the valley; there we shall find the river of boiling blood in which are steeped all who struck down their fellow men."