Inferno Virgil Quotes

For giving false or malicious advice, the Fraudulent Counselors must struggle torturously to speak even a single word in Hell. The pain they no doubt feel in their shrouds of flame not only indicates their guilty spirits, but makes it difficult for them to speak. Also, because the sinners are ‘twinned’ here – a single flame containing two sinners -- Dante suggests that fraud affects not only the individual who practices it, but also others; it is a rebounding sin.

In this key passage, Beatrice anoints Virgil as one possessing the "persuasive word." This is Virgil’s most important attribute because he uses language to impart lessons to Dante, engage sinners in conversation, condemn sin, and basically to keep Dante out of trouble. Virgil is the embodiment of ornate and eloquent language in the Inferno, and for the most part, he uses it wisely.

This is the first explicit reference to language’s unique ability to affect large numbers of people. Beatrice acknowledges Virgil’s "honest utterance" as a benefit to all "those who’ve listened to [it]" – namely, the Romans. Virgil has done for the Latin language what Dante will do for the Italian one: standardize it and give his fellow countrymen a sense of national pride.