Dante, Inferno
Virgil’s Motherlike Rescue
As the devils approach with spread wings, Virgil catches Dante and carries him down the steep bank. The narration compares him to a mother who snatches her child from a fire without pausing to dress fully. The descent ends beyond the guardians’ permitted territory. They can reach the bank overhead but have no power to depart from the fifth ditch, so geography brings the pursuit to an end.
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In the sources
The encounter
LiteraryAs the devils approach with spread wings, Virgil catches Dante and carries him down the steep bank. The narration compares him to a mother who snatches her child from a fire without pausing to dress fully.
Further detail
LiteraryThe descent ends beyond the guardians’ permitted territory. They can reach the bank overhead but have no power to depart from the fifth ditch, so geography brings the pursuit to an end.
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
even as a mother that from sleep Is by the noise aroused, and near her sees The climbing fires, who snatches up her babe And fliesOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Dante’s Inferno, Cary translation; active reader leaf 156
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-P0156
- Original scan leaf
- 163
- Recorded leaf number
- 163
- Current Reader position
- 156
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Dante's Inferno
Power of departing thence took from them all. There in the depth we saw a painted tribe, Who paced with tardy steps around, and wept, FaintOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Dante’s Inferno, Cary translation; active reader leaf 156
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-P0156
- Original scan leaf
- 163
- Recorded leaf number
- 163
- Current Reader position
- 156
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Illustrations
Continue exploring
Agnello’s Merged Form
A man and serpent lose their distinct outlines in the thieves’ ditch.
Same subject and traditionAlichino and Calcabrina’s Quarrel
The failed pursuit that sends two guardians into their own sticky pool.
Same subject and traditionCrossing the Centre of the World
Virgil’s reversal while climbing Lucifer explains the change from descent to ascent.
Same subject and traditionMistaken for Boniface
An inverted speaker mistakes Dante’s arrival for that of a future condemned pope.