Inferno: Canto II

Bea, yo' man be messin' up, fool!

English text for the Italian-impaired.

Not three stanzas free from the first Canto and already Dante is having his first crisis of faith. No wonder this guy was lost in the first place!

And I began: "Poet, who guidest me,
  Regard my manhood, if it be sufficient,
  Ere to the arduous pass thou dost confide me.

Yes. Dante is questioning if his manhood is sufficient. He-haw, giggle giggle. No, you children, he's not talking about his boy bits; the next several stanzas go on to say that Dante believes himself not as worthy to undertake such a journey as other, greater men of his own antiquity, Virgil included:

But I, why thither come, or who concedes it?
  I not Aeneas am, I am not Paul,
  Nor I, nor others, think me worthy of it.

Therefore, if I resign myself to come,
  I fear the coming may be ill-advised;
  Thou'rt wise, and knowest better than I speak."

Ol' Virg comes back with the verbal equivalent of Zombie Roman Smackdown, informing Dante that Beatrice (Dante's 'one-and-only') personally came down from Heaven to ask Virgil (who has been chilling in Hell for the last 600 years) to guide Dante out of the forest and through the eternal realms.

Super Troopers. Great movie!

If your true love descending from Heaven and braving the minor annoyances of the outer circle of Hell weren't enough to convince you to go... It turns out that Beatrice was informed of Dante's mis-directions by Lucia who was requested by none other than THE Virgin Mary herself to have Dante escorted up through to Heaven!

For this second installation of the Carboncino, I've depicted Lucia informing Beatrice of Dante's errant ways as he heads through the 'forest dark'. Lucia doesn't get more than this passing mention in the Divine Comedy and, for a saint who's famous for having her eyes gouged out, I felt she deserved at least a little recognition for her efforts. I particularly like the way I've depicted these heavenly denizens as swirly forms rather than strictly humanoid with classically glowing halos. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to talk about this interesting interpretation when we get to Paradiso.

This piece is smaller than the last at 9 1/2" x 13".

Next up, the Gates of Hell. Oh snap.