Fundamental resources for scientific computing

Coming of age

Zara is a game of chance that was played in the Middle Ages.

It was most commonly played with three dice, although there were regional variations. Each player would throw the dice, calling out a number at the same time. If the number he called was not the sum of the dice, he would pay a number of coins equal to the number he called; if the number he called was the sum of the dice, he would collect a number of coins equal to the number called.

The next several verses are dedicated to explaining why Dante's home town of Mantua didn't have anything to do with magic, but simply was named after the prophetess Manto.

Virgil has been unable to gain entrance to Dis by his own devices, and must request help from Heaven. Much as we cannot enter Paradise by our own striving, but only by the grace of God.

Perhaps the original "Abandon Hope" gate at the entrance to hell?

Argenti was a Black Guelph, and thus a political enemy of Dante, who was a White Guelph. The Argenti family may have been involved with Dante's exile from Florence.

Phlegyas, mythological king of Boeotia; son of Mars; thrown into Hell for setting fire to Apollo's temple because Apollo seduced his daughter.

Study Questions

Questions are provided by Dr. Matthew Moser of Azusa Pacific University

How does Argenti try to evoke Dante’s pity by describing himself as “the one who weeps”? Why is Dante’s harsh outburst against Argenti praiseworthy?

Why would Virgil invoke Luke 11:27’s description of Christ in praise of Dante’s vengeful attitude toward Argenti?

Dante invokes us the readers in 8.94. Why does he intentionally bring us into the narrative at this point?

How does Virgil fail as Dante’s guide at the end of the canto? What might this tell us about Virgil’s limitations as a teacher and of the limitations of pagan wisdom?

Pluto, God of Wealth. Spendthrifts and hoarders are obsessed, in different ways, with wealth.

Sullen? Or clinically depressed?

Study Questions

Questions are provided by Dr. Matthew Moser of Azusa Pacific University\

Why would Dante the poet start this canto with Pluto inscrutable gibberish?

Why do you think the circle of the avaricious (greedy) has the most sinners in it? How might this be connected to the she-wolf of canto 1.94-102?

Why would Dante include two sins—hoarding and squandering—in this ring? How are they both forms of the sin of greed? Why does Dante the poet deny us as readers knowledge of their individual identities?

Notice the inclusion of Lady Fortuna in line 62-96. Who is she and how does she govern human lives and experiences? What should our relationship as humans be to her rule? How does she contrast with Pluto?

What are the two different forms of wrath that Dante introduces in lines 109-126 and what do they reveal about the nature of unholy anger?

Cerberus traditionally is appeased with delectables. Virgil appeases him with mud and slime. The gluttonous can be satisfied with anything at all!

Canto 5 discussion questions

● How does the theme of confession structure this canto?

● What is the contrapasso of the lustful? What does this punishment reveal about the character of lust as a sin?

● Why are so many of the examples of the Lustful sinners political rulers? What relationship between physical and political lust might Dante be developing here (Hint: check out St. Augustine’s City of God book 14, chapter 28)?

● Why would Dante present Francesca so sympathetically? How might he be trying to implicate us as readers?

● What does Francesca’s story of her sin show us about the relationship between reading and (im)moral action and damnation? How might the Comedy itself serve as a counterargument that we can indeed read for the sake of our salvation (Hint: check out St. Augustine’s conversion story in book 8 of Confessions)?

● Is the pilgrim’s pitying response of Francesca and Paolo a proper response to their story? Why might pity for the damned be a theological problem in relation to divine justice?

Canto 6 discussion questions

● The circle of gluttony is guarded over by the mythic beast Cerberus. Why might Dante include creatures from pagan mythology in this Christian poem? Does this reveal anything about how Dante imagines the relationship between Christian truth and pagan thought?

● How does Cerberus perversely parody the Christian picture of God as Trinity?

● What does Dante’s depiction of Cerberus and the contrapasso of foul weather suggest about the nature of the sin of gluttony? Why would Dante the poet depict the punishment of gluttony as the most “displeasing” (“spiacente”) of all of the punishments in hell?

● Why does Dante the poet connect the punishment of gluttony to the discussion with Ciacco about the politics of the city of Florence? Is there a relationship between gluttony and political decay?

● How do lines 103-111 treat the spiritual bodies of the damned? Will their torment be lessened or heightened at the resurrection of the body? What does this claim reveal about the nature of divine justice as it is exercised in hell?

Minos listens to each sinner's confession and assigns them to a circle.

the word ambition in Shakespeare's works had stronger negative connotations than today; it is often associated with political figures who try to gain more power than was appropriate for their position in society. In Shakespeare's works, this type of ambition is not merely a matter between humans, but disturbs the natural order link

This statement of Oliver’s malign intent upon Orlando draws simultaneously from the worlds of gardening and of sixteenth-century medicine, so that Orlando is, for Oliver, both an overgrown plant in need of cutting down and an illness that must be cured through bloodletting.