DANTE ALIGHIERI

1. ✨ In summary:
Dante is the narrator.
He was refused by Charon because he was still alive.
The souls are the indifferent/neutrals.
Their punishment is endless wandering with torment from stings and worms.
Inferno – Canto III
adapted from Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, pp. 123-128 in the Learner’s Material
I stood before a dark and fearful gate.
Above it were words written in warning:
“Through me is the way into the city of pain.
Through me is the way to everlasting sorrow.
Through me is the way among the lost.
Justice moved my Maker on high.
Divine Power created me,
Supreme Wisdom and Primal Love.
Before me nothing was created,
except what is eternal—
and I, too, am eternal.
Abandon all hope, you who enter here.”
When I had read those words, I turned in fear to my guide.
“Master,” I said, “this message sounds so hard.”
Virgil, calm and steady, answered me:
“Here you must put away all cowardice.
Here all weakness must die.
We have come to the place I told you—
where you shall see the suffering souls
who have lost the good of intellect.”

2. Then we entered the gates of Hell.
Sighs, cries, and wailing struck my ears,
so full of grief I began to weep.
Everywhere there were voices,
angry shouts, shrill cries,
hands striking together in despair.
The air was filled with endless grief—
a storm of sorrow without end.
And I asked my guide:
“Master, who are these people,
so beaten by pain, yet not condemned to death?”
Virgil replied:
“These are the souls of those who lived without blame
and without praise.
They were neither faithful to God nor rebels against Him.
Even the angels who would not choose a side are here.
Heaven drove them out, not to be less fair,
and Hell does not take them,
lest the wicked have glory over them.”
And indeed I saw a great crowd of souls
naked and hopeless, chasing a blank banner.
They ran forever, never resting.
Wasps and hornets stung them without mercy.
Blood and tears streamed down their faces,
falling to their feet,
where worms and maggots gathered to devour them.
As we moved on, we came to the banks of a wide, dark river.

3. There Charon, the demon ferryman, appeared.
His eyes glowed like fire as he gathered the damned into his boat.
But when he saw me, he cried:
“You, living soul, get away from the dead!
This boat is not for you.”
My guide replied firmly:
“Charon, do not be angry.
It is willed that this man travel here.
This is commanded above—
and what is willed there must be done.”
Canto I – The Dark Wood
Dante finds himself lost in a dark forest, symbolizing sin and confusion.
He tries to climb a hill toward the light of salvation but is blocked by three beasts:
a leopard (representing lust and fraud),
a lion (representing pride and violence), and
a she-wolf (representing greed and lack of self-control).
Terrified and hopeless, Dante meets the poet Virgil, who offers to guide him.
Virgil tells Dante that the only way out is to journey through Hell and Purgatory before
reaching Paradise.
Canto II – The Descent Begins
Dante hesitates, doubting his worthiness for such a journey.
Virgil reassures him, saying that Beatrice, a blessed soul in Heaven, sent Virgil to guide
Dante.
Beatrice was moved by the Virgin Mary and Saint Lucia to help Dante.
Encouraged by this heavenly support, Dante overcomes his fear and agrees to follow Virgil.
Canto III – The Gate of Hell (The Vestibule)

4. Dante and Virgil arrive at the Gate of Hell, which bears the famous inscription ending with:
“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”
Inside the Vestibule of Hell, they see the souls of the opportunists and the neutral—those who
never chose good or evil but lived only for themselves.
These souls are punished by being stung by hornets and wasps, their blood and tears feeding
worms at their feet.
Dante then sees the river Acheron, where the souls of the damned gather.
The ferryman Charon angrily refuses Dante passage because he is still alive, but Virgil insists
Dante is on a divinely willed journey.
Dante faints from fear as they prepare to cross into Hell proper.