Sins undiscovered or unpunished in life will be eternally punished in death, exemplifying Dante’s view that one should never succumb to Earthly whims. As Dante travels through the concentric circles of hell, he meets many sinners who were heroes on Earth who were lauded in spite of their sins or sinners whose true crimes were never punished. In Canto XXIX, he meets Griffolino d’Arezzo who tells him that “the crime for which [his] flesh/was charred was not the one that brought [him] here” (XXIX. 99-100). D’Arezzo was burnt at the stake for sorcery but is rotting in the final bolgia of Circle 8 for falsification. Despite having been caught and executed for a lesser crime in life, in death he was sent to the true ditch of hell that represented
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As Dante and Virgil make their way through hell, they encounter souls in many circles of hell who “beg of [Dante]” to “speak of [them]” when he returns to the world (XVI.79). They “tearful[ly]” ask him to “promise to remember [them] to men” (VI.75, 87). These souls are desperate to remain living among the living, they even “beg” and are so emotionally invested that they are “tearful”. They wish for Dante to speak their stories to others on Earth because if he does not, everything they’d done in their lives will be forgotten. In Hell they are “pigs in muck” for “on Earth,” the only name they’ve left is mud” (VIII.47-48). Without anyone like Dante to speak well of them to those alive, humanity will remember them as nothing more than pigs, muddy and dirty. In life, their sins soiled their own reputations and the world will not remembered well. They forsake their divine purity for the sake of dirty, Earthly desires and thus soiled their own reputations and sealed their fate to rot like “pigs in muck” for all of eternity in hell. Their fear of their soiled reputations leads them to beg Dante for any chance of him putting in a good word for them, but at the end of the day, regardless of whether Dante speaks well for them, none of it will matter. In the center of Hell, there is a “stream that runs along” into Hell that is the
As Dante and Virgil make their way through hell, they encounter souls in many circles of hell who “beg of [Dante]” to “speak of [them]” when he returns to the world (XVI.79). They “tearful[ly]” ask him to “promise to remember [them] to men” (VI.75, 87). These souls are desperate to remain living among the living, they even “beg” and are so emotionally invested that they are “tearful”. They wish for Dante to speak their stories to others on Earth because if he does not, everything they’d done in their lives will be forgotten. In Hell they are “pigs in muck” for “on Earth,” the only name they’ve left is mud” (VIII.47-48). Without anyone like Dante to speak well of them to those alive, humanity will remember them as nothing more than pigs, muddy and dirty. In life, their sins soiled their own reputations and the world will not remembered well. They forsake their divine purity for the sake of dirty, Earthly desires and thus soiled their own reputations and sealed their fate to rot like “pigs in muck” for all of eternity in hell. Their fear of their soiled reputations leads them to beg Dante for any chance of him putting in a good word for them, but at the end of the day, regardless of whether Dante speaks well for them, none of it will matter. In the center of Hell, there is a “stream that runs along” into Hell that is the