Dante’s Divine Comedy: Inferno Canto 4

Dante awakens from fainting in Canto 3 Limbo Not exactly a punishment, but rather “not belonging to the club” The worthy who lived before Christianity and those who could not be baptized The great poets

Limbo: the realm of those who did not receive the sacrament of Baptism Valley, wood, mist Inability to see is a key Virgil feels compassion, because there are great souls here, not sinners Deprived of the “beatific vision”: souls cannot see the face of God

Limbo < “limbus” (lat.) for edge, boundary = “the edge of hell” St. Augustine ( ) – most important of early Church partriarchs: –formulated concept of original sin –stated: because of original sin, all are condemned without baptism, even infants St. Clement of Alexandria (c ) –began concept that it wasn’t fair if only those born after Christ could escape eternal damnation Why does early Christianity need this idea?

Original Sin All humans have guilt b/c of A & E’s original sin Human nature is evil, thus we all are hell-bound Only through the redemptive act – Christ’s crucifixion & death, can we go to heaven = be saved So: what about the good folks who died before Christ? & babies? – Augustine-> they went to hell!

Limbo Two Limbos: –Limbo of the Infants –Limbo of the Fathers Dante’s L. = the fathers In Dante’s Limbo: the great poets of the classical world –“they did not sin; and yet, though they have merits –that’s not enough, because they lacked baptism –the portal of the faith that you embrace.” (IV, 34-37)

Harrowing of Hell The figures of the Old Testament are no longer there IV, 53-54: “Great Lord… the crown he wore, a sign of victory.” Between crucifixion and resurrection (Good Friday -> Easter Sunday): Christ descended into hell and brought out those who were good but had died before his redemptive act of dying for the sins of humanity

Who is left? Poets of classical antiquity –Homer: Iliad, Odyssey –Horace Poetic works, coined the phrase carpe diem –Ovid Metamorphoses, Ars Amatoria –Lucan Pharsalia

Other Classical Heroines & Heroes Active Life Electra, Hector, Aeneas, Caesar, Camilla, Penthesilea, King Latinus, Lavinia, Brutus, Lucretia, Julia, Marcia, Cornelia Saladin (only modern figure: sultan in 12 th century, known for his great nobility) Contemplative Life Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, Democritus, Diogenes, Empedocles, Zeno, Thales, Anaxagoras, Heraclitus, Dioscorides, Orpheus, Tully, Linus, Seneca, Euclid, Ptolemy, Hippocrates, Galen, Avicenna, Averroës

Virgil and Dante depart for the realm of sin IV, 151: “And I have reached a part where no thing gleams.”