Cantos XXI-XXIII

And run his fastest after a fleeing thief
The sinner sank below, only to rise
Rump up-But demons under the bridge's shelf

Cried, "Here's no place to show your Sacred Face!
You're not out in the Sericho for a swim!
If you don't want to feel our hooks-like this!-

Then stay beneath the pitch" They struck at him
With over a hundred hooks, and said, "You'll need
To dance in secret here-so grab what scam

You're able to in darkness.........(pg 213, lines 49-55)



So I extended this one a little bit because it seemed kinda dumb to cut off the demons in the middle of their dialogue. I choose this part mostly because it sounds really awful. Like I was thinking about it yesterday, and this hell that Dante has put together would truly be terrible. Think about it, being in a river of boiling pitch........forever. Forever is a really long time, like that is really really long. Not sure how I would deal with that. Another just general question that i have is so, these souls are down in hell right, do they feel pain like people or what? Is the deal like they feel pain, but they are already dead so pain that would kill people does not kill them? That just makes the situation even more terrible. okay, on to actual educational stuff. i looked this up on the internet, Cantos XXI and XXII are called the Gargoyle cantos for the reason that the demons who guard the grafters are winged and armed with grappling hooks with which they rip sinners apart who dare rise above the tarry pitch into which they've been shoved. That makes sense as well, The demons are the malebranche, I think. I also found out that malebranche means "evil claws" So yeah, that interesting. Um, lets see here, The one problem that im having know, is keeping all these historical names in my memory. I mean I read it, then I look it up and jot it down, so i have them all but its kinda hard for me to keep them organized in my mind as I am reading. This is a short post, i cant think of anything else. im tired.