51. Notes on the Inferno: The Second Circle

I take back what I said in paragraph #48 that Manuel L. Quezon's vision of a government run like hell by Filipinos is a smashing success. It turns out after reading Dante's Inferno, hell is pretty organized. In spite of all the people there, nobody's  complaining about the traffic. Nobody leaves hell. People just keep on coming. And unlike the chaotic government, no smart aleck is claiming that traffic in hell is not fatal (they are all dead) or that it's a sign of development. The Minos,  which guards the gate, tells the souls their place in the nine circles, and they're not in a hurry. Nonetheless, in the Second Circle of Hell, dwell the lustful. In Canto V, we read of the story of Francesca Da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta. The story is Francesca's husband caught her in bed with Paolo, her husband's brother, thus her husband killed them both. She claims  they were just reading a book about Lancelot and Guinevere, so they did it, and they got caught. She claims their predicament is rooted on love, (Line 125 Canto V). The modern equivalent of this story is the wife who went to bed with her husband's brother after watching porn. In law, love is hardly an excuse for this malfeasance. In fact, the Revised Penal Code doesn't prescribe jail time for this kind of murder and parricide for the assailant-husband. So, this kind of "what I did for love" excuse will only earn the victim and her lover a bullet and free pass to hell. Love is such an abused word. We once had a case against a judge for slapping her clerk of court. Her excuse? It's a slap of love, literally, "sampal ng pagmamahal." I can't believe the court bought it and we lost the case. Nevertheless, in Dante's Inferno, those who are lustful belong to a bigger group of sinners who commit the sin of incontinence or the inability to restrain one's urges. That's why the sinners there are full of excuses; everyone is to blame but themselves.  Hell is organized indeed, but hell, like earth, is also full of bullshit. 

50. Notes on the Inferno: Limbo and the Nine Circles

I've been studying Dante Alighieri's classic "The Divine Comedy" for a book project. The epic poem is considered a landmark in world literature, and has spun countless artworks, books, movies, and even a computer game. Exiled from Florence, Dante portrays himself  as the hero of the story who explores hell, purgatory, and heaven. In the process, he  meets dead people, finds out where they are, and even talks to them. One thing I noticed is this book may appear to be a theological piece of work, but at the heart of it is political satire. The personalities in it, or particularly those who were placed in hell by Dante where I am currently bookmarked, are actually his family's enemies. So, when Dante was writing this epic, he must have been a having a great time, imagining all those personalities who were responsible for his being in exile, as he puts all of them in hell. Essentially, the book says there are nine circles in hell, each circle is inhabited by a certain group of sinners: 1st) The Pagans, 2nd) The Sexually Promiscuous, 3rd) The Gluttons, 4th) The Hoarders and Wasters, 5th)The Angry and the Sullen, 6th) Heretics and Skeptics, 7th) The Violent, 8th) The Fraud, 9th) The Traitors. If somebody were to update this book to the 21st Century with a focus on the Philippines, there's going to be a lot personalities in hell. Let's start with the pagans. In Dante's book, these are the people who were born before Christ so they weren't saved. Nonetheless, in Dante's list of the people in the first circle, also known as limbo, are Homer, Ovid, Horace, Virgil, Caesar, Aristotle, Socrates and Plato, among others. As a philosophy major, it breaks my heart to know that the three pillars of western philosophy are in hell, even if its in the first level. The Jews, like Abraham, were saved from hell, because Jesus is supposed to have descended to hell to save them after he died. I reckon the Filipinos there would be Lapu-Lapu, Rajah Soliman, Datu Kalantiao, Datu Puti, Datu Sumakwel, and may other pre-Spanish Datus. A curious case would be Datu Humabon, who converted to Christianity on April 14, 1521 and was baptized as Carlos. But he had Spanish soldiers killed after they raped their women, so maybe he was not able to confess before he died, in which case he may be found in the 7th circle. Really, Dante's piece is a nifty political trick. Yet, it is all subjective. If PNoy would make the modern list of Filipinos in hell, I'm sure that list would not be the same as Gloria Arroyo's list, while some people would have both their names on the list. To say that somebody is going to hell is harsh judgment, because nobody knows the complete story why persons act unreasonably or sinfully at times. Sometimes, sinful actions may not even be defined. Well, Dante's lucky, because he's dead. If he were alive today and he made that Filipino list, he would not be in hell, but in jail.