– Dis (7:05) –
(Pietro Cottone)
Dante and Virgil travel deeper into the dark regions of Hell. The poets reach the bank of the infernal river, Styx, in the fifth circle. In the black and swampy water of the Styx, the wrathful and sullen are punished: the souls of the wrathful lie at the top and, furious and naked, brutally attack one another; the souls of the sullen are submerged in the water. Through the swamp vapors of the Styx, the small and fast boat ferried by Phlegyas appears. Dante and Virgil board the boat to cross the river. While crossing the Styx, Dante sees the flaming red towers of the walled city Dis.
Canto VIII, 67-75
And the good Master said: “Even now, my Son,
The city draweth near whose name is Dis,
With the grave citizens, with the great throng.”
And I: “Its mosques already, Master, clearly
Within there in the valley I discern
Vermilion, as if issuing from the fire
They were.” And he to me: “The fire eternal
That kindles them within makes them look red,
As thou beholdest in this nether Hell.”
