The poets move on to the third circle, the Gluttons, who are guarded by the monster Cerberus. Here, Dante meets Paolo and Francesca, the two unfaithful lovers buffeted about in a windy storm. In Limbo, the poets stop to speak with other great poets, Homer, Ovid, Horace, and Lucan, and then enter a great citadel where philosophers reside.ĭante and Virgil enter Hell proper, the second circle, where monster, Minos, sits in judgment of all of the damned, and sends them to the proper circle according to their sin. The ferryman, Charon, reluctantly agrees to take the poets across the river to Limbo, the first circle of Hell, where Virgil permanently resides. The poets reach the banks of the river Acheron where souls await passage into Hell proper. The two poets enter the vestibule of Hell where the souls of the uncommitted are tormented by biting insects and damned to chase a blank banner around for eternity. Dante agrees to the journey and follows Virgil through the gates of Hell. Dante is forced to return to the forest where he meets the spirit of Virgil, who promises to lead him on a journey through Hell so that he may be able to enter Paradise. He sees a sun-drenched mountain in the distance, and he tries to climb it, but three beasts, a leopard, a lion, and a she-wolf, stand in his way. At the age of thirty-five, on the night of Good Friday in the year 1300, Dante finds himself lost in a dark wood and full of fear.

Sparknotes dante inferno