Dante, Inferno
The Gate of Dante’s Hell
The third canto begins with words above a lofty portal. They describe passage into woe, eternal pain and the company of the lost, attributing the gate’s foundation to justice, divine power, wisdom and love. The inscription commands the entrants to abandon hope. Virgil then asks Dante to leave distrust and fear behind, takes his hand, and leads him into the starless tumult beyond.
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In the sources
The encounter
LiteraryThe third canto begins with words above a lofty portal. They describe passage into woe, eternal pain and the company of the lost, attributing the gate’s foundation to justice, divine power, wisdom and love.
Further detail
LiteraryThe inscription commands the entrants to abandon hope. Virgil then asks Dante to leave distrust and fear behind, takes his hand, and leads him into the starless tumult beyond.
Context & interpretation
This entry follows the exact supplied Thompson & Thomas edition of H. F. Cary’s translation. Figures, places and events belong to Dante’s literary vision; their assigned roles are distinguished from historical biography, other classical traditions and independently established descriptions of an afterlife.
Original passages
Source 1
Dante's Inferno
Through me you pass into eternal pain : Through me among the people lost for aye. Justice the founder of my fabric moved : To rearOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Dante’s Inferno, Cary translation; active reader leaf 23
Passage read against the exact edition’s extracted canto text; whitespace normalised and original-leaf mapping checked. Plate art separately visually inspected.
- Edition
- IMJ-0082-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0082-E001-P0023
- Original scan leaf
- 30
- Recorded leaf number
- 30
- Current Reader position
- 23
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Dante's Inferno
All hope abandon, ye who enter here." Such characters, in color dim, I mark'd Over a portal's lofty arch inscribed. Whereat I thus : " Master,Open this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Dante’s Inferno, Cary translation; active reader leaf 23
Passage read against the exact edition’s extracted canto text; whitespace normalised and original-leaf mapping checked. Plate art separately visually inspected.
- Edition
- IMJ-0082-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0082-E001-P0023
- Original scan leaf
- 30
- Recorded leaf number
- 30
- Current Reader position
- 23
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Illustrations
Continue exploring
The Vestibule of the Uncommitted
The region before Acheron occupied by those who committed themselves to neither good nor evil.
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.