Friday 9 December 2011

Out of the Mouth of Pagans

Have you ever had one of those friends who babbles on a bit but you listen anyway on the chance that something brilliant might pop out? Well I do... his other friends call him "farm boy" but I often refer to him as simply "the Pagan", a bit of a Latin joke. The Pagan has somehow decided to read Dante's Inferno and has come to the conclusion that it is all far too real. The various punishments meted out in hell mirror the sorts of traps that people can find themselves in on earth. Those suffering from lust are blown about by violent winds and storms with no hope of rest. Gluttons are condemned to blind self indulgence while the wasteful and miserly are at constant war with each other. In each case the punishment is merely an extension of the web woven during the person's life. We have all seen this dynamic at work in ourselves and other people. The odd thing is that nobody seems very anxious to get out except of course Satan. Hell is truly locked on the inside. Satan remembers and his struggles to escape fuel the winds that keep him ensnared, feeding on the most foul traitors. I am going to go read it and I recommend the Longfellow translation and reading it aloud.

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

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