“When I at his tomb’s foot was standing now, he eyed me awhile: then, almost with disdain, he asked me: Of what lineage are thou?”
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The 6th Circle of Heretics. The poets begin their journey down a secret path in Circle VI, the circle containing the Heretics, those who believed that the body did not contain a soul. Many of these are Epicureans, followers of Epicurus, the Greek philosopher whose philosophy was the attainment of happiness, defined as the absence of pain. According to Dante's society, a heretic was a person who chose his or her own opinion rather than following the judgment of the papacy. Epicureans believed that there is no soul and that everything dies with the body. They regarded the pleasures of life on Earth as the highest goal for man. According to Dante's idea of retribution, the Heretics' punishment is to spend eternity in flaming tombs, until Judgment day, when the tombs will close and the souls inside will be sealed forever within their earthly bodies. Farinata's (Dante’s political enemy) prophesy for Dante, "the face of her who reigns in Hell shall not/be fifty times rekindled in its course/before you learn what griefs attend that art," means that Dante will also experience the grief of exile. Shades in Hell are not there for each other's companionship or compassion. They don't keep one another company, and they are more often together to provide more suffering for one another.