DANTE CARDS
Each of 9 Dante cards represents a specific circle of hell from Dante Inferno, inspired by Tarot card aesthetics where each character is represented in the style of Tarot characters.
Inferno, 1 cycle
And unto him the Guide: ‘Vex thee not, Charon;
It is so willed there where is power to do
That which is willed; and farther question not.’
Thereat were quieted the fleecy cheeks
Of him the ferryman of the livid fen,
Who round about his eyes had wheels of flame.
But all those souls who weary were and naked
Their colour changed and gnashed their teeth together,
As soon as they had heard those cruel words.
Inferno, 2 cycle
There standeth Minos horribly, and snarls;
Examines the transgressions at the entrance;
Judges, and sends according as he girds him.
I say, that when the spirit evil—born
Cometh before him, wholly it confesses;
And this discriminator of transgressions
Seeth what place in Hell is meet for it;
Girds himself with his tail as many times
As grades he wishes it should be thrust down.
Always before him many of them stand;
They go by turns each one unto the judgment;
They speak, and hear, and then are downward hurled.
Inferno, 3 cycle
Huge hail, and water sombre—hued, and snow,
Athwart the tenebrous air pour down amain;
Noisome the earth is, that receiveth this.
Cerberus, monster cruel and uncouth,
With his three gullets like a dog is barking
Over the people that are there submerged.
Red eyes he has, and unctuous beard and black,
And belly large, and armed with claws his hands;
He rends the spirits, flays, and quarters them.
Howl the rain maketh them like unto dogs;
One side they make a shelter for the other;
Oft turn themselves the wretched reprobates.
Inferno, 4 cycle
‘PAPE Satan, Pape Satan, Aleppe!’
Thus Plutus with his clucking voice began;
And that benignant Sage, who all things knew,
Said, to encourage me: ‘Let not thy fear
Harm thee; for any power that he may have
Shall not prevent thy going down this crag’
Then he turned round unto that bloated lip,
And said: ‘Be silent, thou accursed wolf;
Consume within thyself with thine own rage.
Inferno, 5 cycle
‘Phlegyas, Phlegyas, thou criest out in vain
For this once,’ said my Lord; ‘thou shalt not have
Longer than in the passing of the slough.’
As he who listens to some great deceit
That has been done to him, and then resents it,
Such became Phlegyas, in his gathered wrath.
My Guide descended down into the boat,
And then he made me enter after him,
And only when I entered seemed it laden.
Inferno, 6 cycle
Where in a moment saw I swift uprisen
The three infernal Furies stained with blood,
Who had the limbs of women and their mien,
And with the greenest hydras were begirt;
Small serpents and cerastes were their tresses,
Wherewith their horrid temples were entwined.
And he who well the handmaids of the Queen
Of everlasting lamentation knew,
Said unto me: ‘Behold the fierce Erinnys.
This is Megaera, on the left—hand side;
She who is weeping on the right, Alecto;
Tisiphone is between;’and then was silent.
Inferno, 7 cycle
As is that bull who breaks loose at the moment
In which he has received the mortal blow,
Who cannot walk, but staggers here and there,
The Minotaur beheld I do the like;
And he, the wary, cried: ‘Run to the passage;
While he wroth, ’tis well thou shouldst descend.’
Thus down we took our way o’er that discharge
Of stones, which oftentimes did move themselves
Beneath my feet, from the unwonted burden.
Inferno, 8 cycle
And said: ‘Now, Geryon, bestir thyself;
The circles large, and the descent be little;
Think of the novel burden which thou hast.’
Even as the little vessel shoves from shore,
Backward, still backward, so he thence withdrew;
And when he wholly felt himself afloat,
There where his breast had been he turned his tail,
And that extended like an eel he moved,
And with his paws drew to himself the air.
Inferno, 9 cycle
Less strange, know that these are not towers, but giants,
And they are in the well, around the bank,
From navel downward, one and all of them.
As, when the fog is vanishing away,
Little by little doth the sight refigure
Whate’er the mist that crowds the air conceals,
So, piercing through the dense and darksome air,
More and more near approaching tow’rd the verge,
My error fled, and fear came over me;