"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those, who in times of moral crisis, do nothing."
- Dante Alighieri
“Since knowledge is the ultimate perfection of our soul, in which resides our ultimate happiness, we are all therefore by nature subject to a desire for it.”
—Canto I
Dante's autobiographical Inferno contains one of the most detailed and influential literary descriptions of Hell. Descending into a dark wood where the sun is silent and sinful temptations abound, he is guided by Virgil through the nine circles of Hell, the Gates which read;
“Through me the way is to the city dolent;
Through me the way is to eternal dole;
Through me the way among the people lost.
Justice incited my sublime Creator;
Created me divine Omnipotence,
The highest Wisdom and the primal Love.
Before me there were no created things,
Only eterne, and I eternal last.
All hope abandon, ye who enter in!” —Canto III
Having survived the torments of Hell Dante and Virgil set out for Purgatorio, ascending its mountain and seven terraces representing the Seven Deadly Sins. Beatrice joins him and together they journey through the nine spheres of Paradiso which ends;
“ But my own wings were not enough for this,
Had it not been that then my mind there smote
A flash of lightning, wherein came its wish.
Here vigour failed the lofty fantasy:
But now was turning my desire and will,
Even as a wheel that equally is moved,
The Love which moves the sun and the other stars.”
Dante's autobiographical Inferno contains one of the most detailed and influential literary descriptions of Hell. Descending into a dark wood where the sun is silent and sinful temptations abound, he is guided by Virgil through the nine circles of Hell, the Gates which read;
“Through me the way is to the city dolent;
Through me the way is to eternal dole;
Through me the way among the people lost.
Justice incited my sublime Creator;
Created me divine Omnipotence,
The highest Wisdom and the primal Love.
Before me there were no created things,
Only eterne, and I eternal last.
All hope abandon, ye who enter in!” —Canto III
Having survived the torments of Hell Dante and Virgil set out for Purgatorio, ascending its mountain and seven terraces representing the Seven Deadly Sins. Beatrice joins him and together they journey through the nine spheres of Paradiso which ends;
“ But my own wings were not enough for this,
Had it not been that then my mind there smote
A flash of lightning, wherein came its wish.
Here vigour failed the lofty fantasy:
But now was turning my desire and will,
Even as a wheel that equally is moved,
The Love which moves the sun and the other stars.”
—Canto XXXIII
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