Aeneid Six The passage I chose for my close reading includes lines 514-545 of Aeneid Book 6. This passage is a depiction of Aeneas’ nekyia with the suffering and tortured souls of the underworld. During this passage, Aeneas travels through various regions and witnesses each unlively form. Although the psychological impact that this encounter Aeneas has with the dead is not blatantly explicated, the connotations of the descriptive words utilized can provide insight into his thoughts. <<Now came the sound of wailing, the weeping Of the souls of infants, torn from the breast On a black day and swept off to bitter death On the very threshold of their sweet life.>> During Aeneas’ encounter with the infants in the Underworld, the overwhelming emotion seems to be evidently tragedy and despair. The intense contrast between “bitter death” and “sweet life” emphasises the notion that Aeneas views their death as a devastating fate. With bitter and sweet being polar opposites, we see that no nuance or ambiguity exists in his sentiment surrounding the death of these infants. The use of words like “torn” and “swept” further stress the forceful nature of this death, as well as the innocence of the infants and absolute absence of choice. The fact that they were “torn from the breast” is in a way symbolic. The infants are being torn away from the very thing that nurtures them and provides the ability to sustain. The weeping and wailing of the infants shows that they have not been granted happiness in the afterlife and their untimely death is tragic. <<In the next region are those wretched souls Who contrived their own deaths. Innocent But loathing the light, they threw away their lives And now would gladly bear any hardship To be in the air above. But it may not be.>> It would seem as if Aeneas has less empathy for the occupants of the next region he visits. Aeneas seems to recognize life as a gift which could potentially engender a sort of distaste for those who took their own lives. This conclusion could be drawn from the words used, including the word “wretched.” This could imply a bit that Aeneas feels a bit of pity towards these souls who he views as miserable. He maintains that these souls are in fact innocent, however they “threw away their lives” disregarding it as a gift and rather treating it as trash or something unwanted. The underworld is decidedly a very undesirable place as demonstrated by the line “And now would gladly bear any hardship to be in the air above.” Following this line is, “But it may not be,” which highlights the irrevocability and inevitability of death. Aeneas describes the day of death as a “black day” whereas he describes living as “light.” This emphasises the duality of existence: the binary of life and death, light and dark, despair and prosperity, above and below, good and evil. Akin to representing the end of day, the “dark” in this passage represents the end of life. Ultimately the Underworld, serves as a reflection and consequences of choices made in life. The souls depicted in this passage do not find peace and their deaths are a tragedy, presenting life as a gift that was lost and can never again be obtained. Dante’s Inferno The Divine Comedy, Dante’s Inferno, depicts Dante’s pilgrimage into the underworld which represents the first step of his religious journey. Throughout his physical and spiritual odyssey, Dante encounters sinners, who by virtue of their transgressions, are rightfully, and moreover, deservingly subjected to eternal torment. Seeking connection with the divine, Dante must reject/transcend feelings of pity because, as proclaimed by Virgil <<O you who are in the grief of Hell,do not pity yourselves, for the punishments you suffer are deserved>> (Canto IX). Through his neglect of sentiments of pity and fear for the sinners, Dante confronts the notion that you can not think yourself into faith. In God’s absolute judgment, the degree of punishment he distributes corresponds with the severity of the sin perpetrated. Dante’s peregrination underscores the theological principle that each soul's fate is a direct consequence of its actions. Dante’s narrative poem is greatly influenced by the epic Aeneid. Both begin in medias res, indicating the sense of urgency and gravity that typifies their journeys, and further implicating that their expeditions are being guided by greater, unseen forces. This sets the stage for both Virgil’s and Dante’s eventual growth after overcoming the tribulations and obstacles necessary to achieve their profound evolution/metamorphosis. Both Virgil and Dante exist within a cosmic system which necessitates fixed differentiation between human and superhuman/divine beings/entities. Both of their journeys are of a magnitude that surpasses personal salvation and transmogrification. Instead, their purpose has been elevated to a cosmic level, they are bound by divine mission. Similar to how Dante’s journey leads him to a higher spiritual state, Aeneas’ journey solidifies his role as a divinely ordained hero. Thusly, they both transcend human limitations in ways beyond comprehension indicating almost “superhuman” ability. It is noteworthy that Dante must learn to suppress his feelings of pity for the sinners in order to attain absolute faith. This is because feelings such as pity and fear are considered intrinsic to the human experience. One might argue that Dante’s rejection of these emotions represents a form of "inhumanity" since the deliberate suppression of these natural emotional responses suggest that the path to absolute faith necessitates denial of qualities that define and are characteristic of the human experience. Therefore, in order to attain true and absolute faith, Dante must undergo a profound transmogrification, a process of spiritual metamorphosis that requires him to transcend his human nature. This transformation, in a sense, renders him "superhuman." By suppressing his pity, Dante aligns himself with divine judgment, which operates on principles beyond human comprehension. In this way, he transcends the human condition unfettered by the restrictions of limited human understanding/existence. It must be then, in alignment with Dante, that the sole way of achieving absolute faith is to achieve a divine understanding/truth yourself. This is symbolized with the depiction of stars after Dante escapes hell which are understood to represent/signify not only time but divine order and spiritual truth in medieval literature <<He first, I second, still ascending held Our way until the fair celestial train Was through an opening round to me revealed: And, issuing thence, we saw the stars.>> We see imagery of the stars after each of the three major sections (Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso). The repetition of this imagery signifies its importance. The stars appear after each major section, representing the completion of each point of Dante’s journey, symbolizing each climacteric and Dante’s gradual transmogrification. As Dante becomes more and more “superhuman,” the stars become more prevalent and seemingly reachable. The stars appear after each major section of Dante's Inferno, stars are hardly mentioned. In fact, their very absence is remarked upon <<the stars made the air Through which I passed starless. >> The dearth of stars in the sky are representative of Dante’s separation from the divine. At this point, Dante has not taken the steps necessary to undergo his transformation. He has not yet reached absolute faith by putting aside his feelings of pity and fear. As Dante reaches Purgatorio, the stars appear to symbolize hope and Dante’s potential of redemption. They represent the virtues that Dante could obtain after his journey through Purgatorio. After completing his journey, being cleansed and renewed, Dante is finally << prepared to rise towards the stars (the virtues that he has been striving towards). >> Dante must fundamentally understand the absolute nature of divine will and justice. Dante’s understanding is marked by his evolving interactions with sinners. He transcends humanity by viewing the sinners as solely their sins and nothing more. In his transcendence of humanity, Dante is guided by the law/enlightenment of the divine. Dante must learn to judge other formerly living human beings in the way only the divine would. The idea of the undead journeying through the underworld, as depicted in Dante's work, is inherently fantastical and impossible. This raises the question of whether it is possible to attain the absolute faith described by Dante without undergoing the transformative pilgrimage he outlines in The Divine Comedy. Comparable to the image of “squaring the circle,” achieving absolute faith seems to be an impossible task (that is for a mere human being). Through divine intervention and his own “superhuman” transformation, Dante is able to overstep these boundaries, even communicating sacred truth/mystery through earthly forms. With ample time, in order to convolute this claim I would introduce an analysis of Virgil’s Aeneid, from which Dante draws considerable inspiration. Although I wouldn’t make quite the same controvertible claim, as I don’t think Virgil quite becomes “superhuman” in the same manner that Dante does, I do think the two stories have many parallels. Both stories follow a taxing journey in the hopes of procuring knowledge that would otherwise remain beyond reach without such an endeavor. Although I wouldn’t say that Virgil becomes “superhuman” himself, I would claim that his pilgrimage grants him crucial knowledge of the future, the fate of Rome, and clarity of his own purpose. So in a sense, he has gained a sort of “superhuman” knowledge and has transcended human boundaries/limitations (akin to what Dante achieved by ignoring his innate sentiments). I could argue that the degree of Virgil’s sense of duty could allot him a sort of “superhuman” classification, rendering him a figure of more significance, purpose, and power than any mere human could ever have. His deep sense of responsibility establishes Virgil as a figure of extraordinary influence that goes beyond human capacity.