Dante, Inferno
Filippo Argenti in Dante’s Inferno, Canto VIII
Filippo Argenti is the Florentine whom Dante recognises among the wrathful in the Styx. From the safety of the boat, Dante watches the other shades turn on him. What makes the scene unsettling is the pleasure the pilgrim takes in what follows.
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In the sources
The encounter
LiteraryA muddy figure questions Dante about arriving before his time. Dante recognises him despite the filth, and Virgil pushes him back when he reaches toward the boat.
Further detail
LiteraryThe surrounding spirits attack the man, naming Filippo Argenti, while he turns his own teeth against himself. The narrator expresses satisfaction at this violence; that response belongs to the poem’s encounter, not an independent judgement of the historical person.
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
One drench'd in mire before me came, and said, " Who art thou, that thus comest ere thine hour ? " I answer'd, " Though IOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Dante’s Inferno, Cary translation; active reader leaf 64
- Edition
- IMJ-0082-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0082-E001-P0064
- Original scan leaf
- 71
- Recorded leaf number
- 71
- Current Reader position
- 64
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Dante's Inferno
To Filippo Argenti ! " cried they all : And on himself the moody FlorentineOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Dante’s Inferno, Cary translation; active reader leaf 64
- Edition
- IMJ-0082-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0082-E001-P0064
- Original scan leaf
- 71
- Recorded leaf number
- 71
- Current Reader position
- 64
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Illustrations
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Literary & Visionary Figures ↗
Phlegyas, Ferryman of the Marsh
The angry boatman who carries the living traveller across the fifth circle.
Same subject and traditionAlberigo and the Frozen Tears
The speaker who requests relief from the ice over his eyes but does not receive it.
Same subject and traditionAlessio of Lucca among the Flatterers
The recognised speaker who attributes his place in the second ditch to excessive flattery.
Same subject and traditionBertran de Born’s Speaking Head
The head-bearing speaker who explains his division through a division he claims to have caused.