Dante's Inferno, Canti 14-20 CONTINUED

3) CONTINUED: Furthermore, through the language and images in Canto 17, readers can clearly see the transformation of Dante that is occurring. Though at the beginning of his journey Dante was always clinging to Virgil and putting his fear on blatant display, here we see a valiant effort at “courage.”
In my honors philosophy class we recently read Plato’s Ideal Republic, wherein virtues, morals and courage were among the many issues trying to be defined. I enjoyed Plato’s notion that courage was not only knowing “what is to be feared, and what is not worthy of being feared,” but also the persevering of courage despite pain, pleasure, or despair.
In line 81, Virgil tells Dante “And now, take courage and be strong.” Dante takes these words to heart, and although he describes himself as man who “shivers of a fever,” with “nails dead of color,” he did not cry out to his master that he was afraid. “But then I felt those stabs of shame that make a servant brave before his valorous master, I wanted to cry out, ‘Hold on to me,’ but I had no voice to second my desire”(lines 81-92, Canto 17). We see evidence here that Dante is learning the true nature of courage, virtue and sin during his journey through Hell.



2) Canti 15 & 16 – Homosexuality, Brunetto Latino & naked, oiled wrestlers
In Canto 15, Dante encounters his old teacher, Brunetto Latino whom he can barely recognize because his face was so burned and crusty from his punishment. From Brunetto’s first line it is obvious he is happy to see Dante, and must be a close friend to be so bold as to grab the hem of his garment and shout; “How marvelous!” (Line 24, Canto 15) Dante expresses his desire to talk with Brunetto, so long as Virgil doesn’t mind. Dante tell how he is walking through Hell, “Up there above in the bright living life before I reached the end of all my years, I lost myself in a valley,”(lines 49-51, Canto 15). The valley is the dark wood where Dante initially descended into hell and met with Virgil who has been guiding him to salvation.
Brunetto speaks with flowery language and loving sentiments for his past student during Canto 15:
1. “Follow your constellation and you cannot fail to reach your port of glory, not if I saw clearly in the happy life; and if I had not died just when I did, I would have cheered you on in all your work,” (lines 55-59, Canto 15).
2. “Among the bitter berries there’s no fit place for the sweet fig to bloom,”(lines 65-66, Canto 15).
3. “Your destiny reserves such honors for you: both parties shall be hungry to devour you, but the grass will not be growing where the goat is,” (lines 70-72, Canto 15).
4. “Let the wild beasts of Fiesole make fodder of each other, and let them leave the plant untouched (so rare is it that one grows in their dung-heap) in which there lives again the holy seed of those remaining Romans who survived there,” (lines 73-77, Canto 15).
It is evident that Dante holds Brunetto near and dear to his heart that he says is now “pierced,” with his kind image, loving and paternal. Dante accredits Brunetto with having taught him how to “make himself eternal.” This would be through written text, which Dante is not afraid to boast about. After this, Dante claims that he is ready for whatever Fortune wants, and so let Fortune turn her wheel as she pleases,”(line 95, Canto 15). At this, Virgil breaks his silence, and praises Dante for remembering the other prophecies and believing they will be interpreted by Beatrice: “He listens well who notes what he hears,”(line 99, Canto 15).
The sin committed by Brunetto and the others in this circle of hell is sodomy. This is most blatantly referenced when Brunetto describes the Servant of Servants’ fate, “transferred to the Bacchiglione from Arno where his sinfully erected nerves were buried,” (lines 113-114, Canto 15).
All the while, Brunetto and Dante had been walking alongside one another, constantly moving with the threat of being punished to lie one hundred years unable to brush off the flames if they were to stop. Brunetto departs, telling Dante to remember his “Trésor” the works through which Brunetto is immortal – just as Dante strives to be with his Divine Comedy.
Brunetto runs off as if he were in “Verona’s race,” back to the pack of people, naked. This image of “running a race” serves as a smooth transition to foreshadow Canto 16, about the naked, oiled wrestlers (also athletes, as those who would be running in Verona’s Race).

Homosexuality is implied through the sin of sodomy in its basic definition: “anal or oral intercourse between two human beings; Sexual acts deemed abnormal or unnatural.” Thus, homosexuality would also be deemed as abnormal or unnatural at this time, so this is where the homosexuals or sodomists are punished in Hell.
The interaction between Dante and Brunetto can be compared and contrasted to his interactions with the naked wrestlers in Canto 16.
These men circle around in a wheel formation, naked, keeping their faces pointed up at Dante so that their feet and necks moved in opposite directions. The naked, oiled wrestlers use language and mannerisms that is far coarser in comparison to Brunetto.
Instead of reaching up to grab Dante by the hem of his garment, the naked wrestlers shouted at Dante: “O you there, stop! From the clothes you wear, you seem to be a man from our perverted city!”(Lines 8-9, Canto 16).
Virgil then tells Dante (and the readers) that these naked, oiled shades deserve respect. “Wait for these are shades that merit your respect. And were it not for the nature of this place to rain with piercing flames, I would suggest you run towards them, for it would be more fitting,” (lines 14-18, Canto 16). When Dante encountered Brunetto, he recognized his old teacher and knew he was a virtuous man deserving of respect. However, Brunetto’s flowery language and mannerisms may have caused Dante to pass him by and disregard him as a sinner of sodomy had he not known his true identity or nature.
The fact that the men are in the formation of the wheel, pushing it round and round is symbolic of the “circle image,” representing the life cycle and eternity, and also of Fortune’s Wheel that have been recurring themes throughout Dante’s Inferno. These men were honorable citizens in Dante’s city, men whose actions Dante tried to emulate. The men inquire about the integrity and current state of their city, and to their dismay, Dante had no good news to bring.
“And if the misery along these sterile sands,’ on of them said, ‘and our charred and peeling flesh make us, and we ask, repulsive to you, let our great wordly fame persuade your heart to tell us who you are, how you can walk safely with living feet through Hell itself,”(lines 28-33, Canto 16).
In both the case of interaction with Brunetto and the naked wrestlers, Dante has a lot of respect for these men. Homosexuality is not clearly illustrated, but implied through the sin of “sodomy.” The voices and mannerisms of the naked men and Brunetto are practically polar opposite, yet Dante has respect for all, based on their individual virtues.