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HELL Dante’s Inferno is one of the three parts of his Divine Comedy. The Inferno contains thirty-four cantos. Each canto is a description of a specific region of hell. Sinners in each area are punished for different sins. The lustful suffer in upper hell, the sin of violence is shown in the middle, and the people who commit sins of fraud are in the lowest part of hell. The sufferings of these people are portrayed through Dante’s eyes as he descends lower and lower into hell with Virgil, Dante’s guide. The torture of each sinner has to do with the sin that they have committed while living. Dante and Virgil travel through the first five circles of hell, coming across the unbaptized first. The unbaptized were the ones who did not know Jesus Christ. They lived before his time and therefore, never knew god. For this they were to live in limbo permanently. Many of the early philosophers were in this circle. “I saw nearest him, in front, Plato and Socrates. I saw Democritus, who strove…”(IV:119-120). As they enter the second circle of hell, Dante and Virgil see the sin of lust. Here Francesca tells her story to Dante about how she came to be in that part of hell. Her torment for the rest of her life is to constantly be next to the one she loves but can never actually touch him. As Dante and Virgil travel farther down in hell, they reach the third circle where the sinners of gluttony dwell. In this circle Dante comes in contact with Ciacco. Ciacco questions Dante of the present, for in hell, no one knows of the present. He then tells Dante of the future. Many of the people in hell can for see the future. In the Odyssey, when Elpenor died at Circe’s palace, he was immediately sent to the underworld. When he sees Odysseus he says, High-born son of Laertes, ready Odysseus…Now I entreat you by those left behind, not present here, by your wife, and by your father who cared for you when little, and by Telemachus whom you left at home alone,- for I know, as you go hence out of the house of Hades, you will touch with your starch ship” (Homer:103) Elpenor, like Ciacco, could for see the future.