Dante and Virgil approach the banks river Acheron where the souls of the damned gather to cross into the boundary of Hell. They watch as suddenly a boat approaches the shore, guided by the monstrous Charon. He orders them into the boat, whacking any laggard passengers with his oar. Charon recognizes Dante as one who is still alive and refuses him entry, however Virgil informs Charon that it’s God’s will Dante enters Hell.

The Poet Dante was inspired by the poet Virgil, consequently we see many parts of Virgil’s epic poem, The Aeneid, referenced in the Divine Comedy. The Character Charon appears in Virgil’s poem and classical mythology as the ferryman of dead souls into Hades.

As the souls of the damned hear Charon announce their doom, the color drains from their faces and their teeth begin to chatter. Once again, Dante tells us that these souls are only getting what they yearn for:

…they want to cross the river, they are eager;

it is Divine Justice that spurs them on,

turning the fear they have into desire.

At this point a howling wind with a reddish light, knocks Dante unconscious until he wakes up on the other side of the river. continue the journey…or …go back…

The first inhabitants of the afterlife that Dante encounters are those souls who refused to take a stand one way or another for God while they were alive. They include angels who sided with neither God nor Satan, as well as people who would not commit to or deny God in their lifetimes. One of the residents was a soul whom Dante called “the coward who had made the great refusal”. Speculation on who this is ranges from pope Celestine V to Pontius Pilate.

In this canto we see the first example of how the poet Dante uses punishments that reflect the sin. Ultimately these sinners receive that which they sought in life. In this case, the punishment was that the sinners will spend eternity chasing after an endlessly moving banner while getting stung by hornets and wasps. The scene isn’t pretty:

… their faces run with blood in streaks;

their blood, mixed with their tears, dripped to their feet,

and disgusting maggots collected in the pus.

In their lives, they ran from one illusion to another, and in eternity they continue aimlessly. They’re not in heaven, yet not quite in the depths of Hell. They’re nowhere, chasing after nothing.

Virgil instructs Dante to ignore them and move on. The two soon encounter a crowd of souls gathering at the shores of a wide river, where Dante begins to see the real despair of Hell. continue the journey… or …go back…

Although the first part of the Divine Comedy, Inferno, begins at canto one, the journey to Hell itself starts in earnest in the third canto with Dante and Virgil arriving at Hell’s gate. Arguably the most famous lines from the poem is the inscription on the gate:

I AM THE WAY INTO THE DOLEFUL CITY,

I AM THE WAY INTO ETERNAL GRIEF,

I AM THE WAY TO A FORSAKEN RACE

JUSTICE IT WAS THAT MOVED MY GREAT CREATOR;

DIVINE OMNIPOTENCE CREATED ME,

AND HIGHEST WISDOM JOINED WITH PRIMAL LOVE.

BEFORE ME NOTHING BUT ETERNAL THINGS

WERE MADE, AND I SHALL LAST ETERNALLY.

ABANDON EVERY HOPE, ALL YOU WHO ENTER.

In addition to being a chilling passage, Dante the poet gives us his first hint of the inversion of all Christian values in Hell. It’s not an accident that the first three lines of the inscription bear a striking resemblance to Jesus’ words in the Gospel of John (”I am the Way, and the Truth, and the light”). We will see throughout Inferno how Dante has mocked and twisted God’s creation and virtues in Satan’s world.

Upon reading the inscription, Dante (the character) remarks how cruel he feels these words are. This is another preview of what we’ll see in later cantos, the moral growth of Dante. He will eventually learn that those souls in Hell are there because they want to be, it is Divine Justice, not Divine cruelty. Virgil’s role is that of a moral guide and teacher, not just a tourguide, and a lot of his time will be spent educating Dante.

They now pass through the gate and begin to hear shrieks, cries, and sighs. continue the journey… or …go back…