“And lo, to us-ward on shipboard drew near one, white with hoary locks, exceedingly old, exclaiming: Woe to you, spirits sinister!”
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The vestibule at the Gates of Hell (The Lukewarm) - a place for the fallen people, those who have lost the good of intellect. “Abandon every hope, all ye who enter here” the horror of total despair. Dante is moved deeply (faints) and horrified by the sight of spirits in deep pain - the sounds of the uncommitted, who lived for themselves. Neither Heaven nor Hell would have them, and so they must remain here (at the vestibule or entrance to Hell) with the selfish, forever running behind a banner and eternally stung by hornets and wasps (having been indecisive in life [NPC’s never making a choice for themselves] they are constantly stung into movement). Worms at their feet eat the blood and tears of these beings. This is the law of retribution, race endlessly after a wavering (and blank) banner, because they are unwilling to shed their blood for any worthy cause in life, their blood is shed unwillingly, food for worms. At the beach of the river Acheron (river of sorrow) the ferryman Charon (who ferries souls of dead across the Styx to hades) refuses Dante carriage as only condemned spirits come this way which Charon herds into the boat. Dante eventually learns that sin is not to be pitied; however, this lesson takes him many circles of Hell to learn. Among the sinners are fallen angels who stayed neutral to God or Lucifer, but refusal to choose is a choice (an idea since central in existentialist philosophy). Dante spies Poper Celestine V who gave up the papacy after 5 months to return to the obscurity of non-commitment clearing the way for Dante’s enemy Boniface VIII who had exiled him from Florence. In Canto III, Dante sets up the intellectual structure of Hell. Hell is the place for those who deliberately, intellectually, and consciously chose an evil way of life, whereas Paradise is a place of reward for those who consciously chose a righteous way of life. The outer border of hell is crowded with more souls than Dante thought possible, all prodded by Divine Justice until they desire to make the crossing (their final choice) just as their desire to sin on earth was also their choice.