Tu lascerai ogne cosa diletta più caramente - Dante's Circles of Hell
I was reading Dante's Divina Commedia, mainly Inferno and Purgatorio, today and I was thinking about the Ninth Circle and the quote "when hell freezes over". In Dante's Inferno, the Ninth Circle is the very depths of Hell where Satan presides over the worst offenders. Basically the Ninth Circle is for the betrayers or "the betrayers to their benefactors".
These sinners are caught in ice for eternity. That's right, the Ninth Circle of Hell is made of ice.
The sinners or souls that would fit in this circle lack all love and therefore are denied any warmth ~ Anonymous
- In Dante’s Inferno Satan is portrayed as a giant beast, frozen mid-breast in ice at the center of Hell. Satan has three heads and affixed under each chin are pairs of bat like wings. As Satan beats his wings, he creates a cold wind which continues to freeze the ice surrounding him, and the other sinners in the Ninth Circle.
Inferno XXXIV:
Lo 'mperador del doloroso regno
da mezzo 'l petto uscìa fuor de la ghiaccia;
e più con un gigante io mi convegno,
Translation:
The Emperor of the kingdom dolorous
From his mid-breast forth issued from the ice,
And better with a giant I compare
All the way through the Circles Dante talks to the condemned. He talks and ponders and it is not till he enters the Ninth Circle (the circle of ice) does he fall silent and truly see how awful hell is.
Inferno XXXIV:
Com'io divenni allor gelato e fioco,
nol dimandar, lettor, ch'i' non lo scrivo,
però ch'ogne parlar sarebbe poco.
Translation:
How frozen I became and powerless then,
Ask it not, Reader, for I write it not,
Because all language would be insufficient.
So, I was thinking along the lines (and remember, this is all just me pondering!) that it is not till the part of hell that has frozen over is seen that the true damnation that is Satan's Pit was revealed.
Also, a random thought popped into my head. The Ninth Circle is home to the worst betrayers, of their kind and kindred is how it's explained.
"When hell freezes over?", when you betray those who love you and are loved by you.
I don't know.. *shrugs* just me thinking aloud really. But he does have some amazing poems and lines:
intrai per lo cammino alto e silvestro.
I entered on the deep and savage way.
(Inferno - Canto II)
~
Per me si va ne la città dolente,
per me si va ne l'etterno dolore,
per me si va tra la perduta gente.
Giustizia mosse il mio alto fattore:
fecemi la divina podestate,
la somma sapienza e 'l primo amore.
Dinanzi a me non fuor cose create
se non etterne, e io etterno duro.
Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate.
(Written on the gate of Hell (Inferno - Canto III))
Translation:
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