Grammar Questions for week of 1/1/07

Canto 12
1. In line 25 what is “the new weight”?
2. In line 33 what is “the great spoil of the upper circle”?
3. In line 34 what made the valley shake?
4. What did some philosophers say about love? (lines 36-37) order
5. Who is punished in this canto and what is there punishment? Which of Leithart’s 3 types of punishment is it.
6. Who was standing beyond the river of blood and what was their job?
7. Who was Nessus and what job was he given in this canto?
8. Do you think scripture agrees with line 99, “Here they lament the merciless harm they did.”
9. Tell me about Attila’s place in history.

Canto 13
1. In line 9 who are the Harpies?
2. In what circle and ring are Virgil and Dante in this canto? Who is being punished here and what is their punishment (note: there are 2 groups)? Which of Leithart’s 3 types of punishment is it?
3. Who is the person Dante spent the most time talking to in this canto and why is he in ring 2 of circle 7?
4. Tell me about Frederick II’s place in history.
5. Why was Pier della Vigna willing to talk to Dante (13:48-51)?
6. Notice that unlike the shades in pre-hell (3:42) these shades still had hope of glory in the world.
7. What do we learn about the history of Florence at the end of this canto (13:134-141).

Canto 14
1. What is Cato’s (14:13) place in history?
2. Describe the 3rd ring of the 7th circle.
3. What three groups are described in this ring (14:18-23)
4. Who was the man who laid disdainful and scowling in the sand and what was
his sin?
5. What was the small stream they saw gushing from the woods in line 62 and what about this stream made Virgil say it was the most noteworthy thing they had seen in hell?
6. What are the three rivers seen in Dante’s hell and what is their origin?
7. Where do these 3 rivers end?

Canto 15
1. Why does Brunetto Latini not want to quit walking and sit down with Dante?
2. What does Brunetto tell Dante about Dante’s future? (lines 50-51 & 65-67)
3. What 2 groups in Florence does Brunetto discuss and which group does he put
Dante in? (lines 55-74)
4. What was the relationship between Brunetti and Dante in the world (80-81)?
5. What is Dante going to do for Brunetti?
6. How do we know what the sin of the people walking through the desert is?

Canto 16 (ring 3 continued)
1. Why did the three shades lock their bodies in a wheel? (line 17)
2. What does Dante say he is doing in lines 52-54?
3. In lines 55-65 what do the three shades ask Dante and what is his answer?
4. What do these three sodomites ask Dante to do for them? (line 75)
5. What is the significance of the cord wrapped around Dante’s waist? (line 92)
6. What did Virgil do with this cord?
7. What was the result?

Canto 17 (ring 3 continued)
1. Describe the beast that appeared (lines 1-24) Cf Rev. 9:7-10
2. What three things is this beast compared to in lines 14-21?
3. Where in the text do we find out this beast’s name and what it represents.
4. Where are Dante, Virgil, and the beast located in the first 90 lines of canto 17?
5. Where does the beast normally reside?
6. Why was he called up by Virgil?
7. What was the sin of the shades talked to in this canto?
8. Describe their punishment.
9. Dante compared his fear to the fear of two mythological creatures in lines 96-99. Who were they?

Assignment for week 5 Dante's Inferno

(1) For week of Dec. 10-16 you are to reread Cantos 1-11 primarily to see if you enjoy them more after having dissected them a little. Put them all together and see what you think.
(2) You are also supposed to read chapter 3 in Ascent to Love
(3) As you read I want you to especially pay attention to the punishments you have seen thus far. In the footnotes of the Inferno, page 340, starting on line 2 “contrapasso” is talked about. We have talked about this in class. Leithart on page 86 discusses 3 types of punishment. See if you can relate these ideas to the punishments thus far in the inferno.
(4) Come armed with any questions you have on the first 11 cantos. If you look at the schedule, you will see that we will be moving through the Inferno faster after Christmas.

Holy Roman Empire

Guelphs or guelfs (gwelf) and Ghibellines (gib’e [short e] len [long e])
1. Guelph = any member of a political party in medieval Italy that supported the authority of the pope in opposition to the aristocratic party of the Ghibellines
2. Ghibelline = any member of a political party in medieval Italy that supported the authority of the German emperors in Italy in opposition to the papal party of the Guelphs

Ascent to Love (pages 47-52)
Between 1215 and 1278 the Guelphs and the Ghibellines of Florence had engaged in a bitter struggle for power, with numerous reversals of fortune for both sides, countless plots and conspiracies, and frequent expulsion orders issued against whoever was on the losing side. The Guelphs finally prevailed [when Dante was 2]. Around 1300, however, there occurred a split in the Guelf party into two very hostile factions: the Blacks and the Whites. The Blacks, staunch Guelfs, remained in control of the commune. TheWhites eventually associated themselves with the Ghibellines.
Dante was a Guelf. When Guelfs split he sided with the Whites and eventually formed friendships with the Ghibellines. Dante held many posts in city government. Violent clashes between Whites and Blacks eventually led to both being exiled. When Whites recalled Boniface VII saw this as threat to papal authority and asked help from France—King Philip of France’s brother Charles came with troops to help retake Florence. Government of Florence sent emissaries to Rome to ask pope to have France withdraw their troops. Dante was part of this delegation. While he was gone, the Blacks with the help of Charles and the Pope took control of the city and Dante sentenced to death in his absence and remained in exile the rest of his life.
About 1310 Henry VII, soon to be Holy Roman Emperor, entered Italy and tried to restore order. His expedition floundered and he died in 1313 before freeing Florence.
Dante had hoped that Henry VII would succeed and allow him to return from exile but with Henry VII’s death he gave up hope of returning to Florence.
Dante believed a single, worldwide monarchy was necessary to achieve peace in the world—he called this the imperium. Specifically he wanted to restore the Roman empire. He felt it was evident the God had chosen the Roman people for this office. To support this he quoted from the Aeneid where Virgil recorded Jupiter’s grant of an empire without end to the Romans. Therefore divine providence established Rome as supreme not brute force. (4:4 in Aeneid). Dante thought corruption in the church could be eliminated by a revised Roman Empire.

World Book
Boniface VIII (1294-1303): most famous Pope Boniface; 2 edicts clearly show he though church should be supreme over civil government (Clericis Laicos said church property could not be taxed without permission of Holy See; Unam Sanctum said spiritual power of Church superior to any temporal power and that those who thought otherwise were holding false doctrines dangerous to salvation). Attempts by him to assert papal supremacy in France led to clashes with King Philip the Fair; Boniface was imprisoned during this struggle.


Holy Roman Empire: neither holy, nor Romam, nor an empire
1. Roman Empire: 31 B.C. (Battle of Actium—end of Roman republic and beginning of Roman empire) to 476 A.D. (1st non Roman put on throne in west; Rome fell to barbarians)
2. Roman Empire in east (Byzantine Empire) fell in 1453 A.D. when Ottomans seized Constantinople.
3. A.D. 330—Constantine changed capital of Roman Empire to Constantinople
4.A.D. 395—formally divided Roman Empire in two and gave one half to each son
5. When did men begin to dream of one government that unites all the people of the world and allows all men to peacefully co-exist?
?Tower of Babel—Gen. 11:6—God said they are one people and one
language
Dante supported idea of one government for whole world
Certainly in 20th century and today this is considered a good goal by many
6.Charlemagne crowned Roman emperor by the pope while attending a church
service in Rome on Christmas day in 800. He already ruled as much land as
Roman emperors had and western Europe looked upon him as another
Constantine, protector of church and state. Title didn’t increase his power but
raised idea of revived Roman Empire. Empire fell apart after his death. (Bob
Jones World History)
7. Otto I (936-973) was 2nd Saxon King of Germany; his father was Henry I;
crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 962 by pope after coming to his aid
militarily. Both pope and emperor thought he was superior to the other. Later
German kings considered themselves successors to the Caesars and to
Charlemagne. Because of their alliance with the church were called Holy Roman
Emperors.
8. Perhaps best known conflict over supremacy between pope and emperor was
Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII. 1075 Pope said civil rulers couldn’t appoint. church leaders. 1076 Henry announced that Gregory no longer pope. Gregory expelled Henry from church and empire was split into warring camps. Henry stood barefoot for 3 days outside Gregory’s castle in the Apennines before pope accepted apology from him ashe nelt at his feet. Fight broke out again when Henry returned to Germany and he again was expelled from church by Gregory. In 1084 Henry captured Rome and deposed Gregory. Henry chose a new pope who then crowned him Holy Roman Emperor
9. Henry V forced his father the 4th to abdicate in 1105
10. Henry VI (1165-1197) ruled when Holy Roman Empire reached its greatest size in medieval period.
11. Henry VI’s son was Frederick II who was Holy Roman Emperor from 1215-1250.
(see 10:112 in Dante’s Inferno)