Dante, Inferno
The Boiling Pitch of the Fifth Ditch
The poem introduces the pitch through a comparison with the winter work of Venice’s shipyards: building vessels, repairing ribs, shaping oars and preparing cables. Here the substance boils through divine art rather than an ordinary fire. Dante can distinguish bubbles and swelling movements but cannot see the inhabitants beneath the surface. Their attempts to emerge expose them to the hooked guardians, so concealment and exposure govern the later encounters.
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In the sources
The encounter
LiteraryThe poem introduces the pitch through a comparison with the winter work of Venice’s shipyards: building vessels, repairing ribs, shaping oars and preparing cables. Here the substance boils through divine art rather than an ordinary fire.
Further detail
LiteraryDante can distinguish bubbles and swelling movements but cannot see the inhabitants beneath the surface. Their attempts to emerge expose them to the hooked guardians, so concealment and exposure govern the later encounters.
Context & interpretation
This entry follows the supplied Thompson & Thomas edition of H. F. Cary’s translation. It describes Dante’s literary vision, distinguishing its assignments and reported claims from historical biography, other classical traditions and independently established accounts of an afterlife.
Original passages
Source 1
Dante's Inferno
Venetians' arsenal as boils Through wintry months tenacious pitch, to smear Their unsound vessels; for the inclement time Seafaring men restrains, and in that while HisOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Dante’s Inferno, Cary translation; active reader leaf 141
Passage read in the exact edition’s extracted canto text; whitespace-normalised anchor and original-leaf mapping checked. Associated plates separately inspected.
- Edition
- IMJ-0082-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0082-E001-P0141
- Original scan leaf
- 148
- Recorded leaf number
- 148
- Current Reader position
- 141
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Dante's Inferno
glutinous thick mass, that round Limed all the shore beneath. I that beheld, But therein nought distinguish'd, save the bubbles Raised by the boiling, and oneOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Dante’s Inferno, Cary translation; active reader leaf 141
Passage read in the exact edition’s extracted canto text; whitespace-normalised anchor and original-leaf mapping checked. Associated plates separately inspected.
- Edition
- IMJ-0082-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0082-E001-P0141
- Original scan leaf
- 148
- Recorded leaf number
- 148
- Current Reader position
- 141
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Illustrations
Continue exploring
Malacoda and the False Route
The negotiating demon whose assurance about a crossing proves unreliable.
Same subject and traditionAcheron in Dante’s Journey
The river where the arriving dead assemble for Charon’s crossing.
Same subject and traditionAntenora, the Second Frozen Round
The part of the ice where the encounter with Bocca leads to accusations of betrayal.
Same subject and traditionCaina, the First Frozen Round
The first division of the frozen circle, introduced through entangled family figures.