# Canto VIII: The Gate of Dis explained — The Divine Comedy

> Chapter companion for The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri.

## What happens

Dante and Virgil cross the Styx with Phlegyas, encounter the wrathful Filippo Argenti, and arrive at the iron-walled city of Dis, where demons deny them entry.

## Themes in this chapter

### Divine Justice

Filippo Argenti's punishment in the Styx reflects the divine retribution for wrath and arrogance.

### Suffering and Compassion

Dante's desire to see Argenti further tormented shows his growing alignment with divine judgment over human pity.

## Character check-ins

### Dante Alighieri

Dante fears abandonment when demons refuse him entry to Dis, but Virgil reassures him.

### Virgil

Virgil confronts the demons at the gate of Dis and vows to overcome their resistance.

### Filippo Argenti

A wrathful Florentine spirit who attacks Dante's boat and is torn apart by other sinners in the mire.

### Phlegyas

The boatman of the Styx, angered by Virgil's command to ferry them across.

## Key lines

> Think, Reader, if I was discomforted At utterance of the accursed words; For never to return here I believed.

Imagine, reader, how terrified I was when I heard those cursed words, for I thought I would never return.

_Dante expresses his fear at the demons' threat to bar his entry._

> That was an arrogant person in the world; Goodness is none, that decks his memory; So likewise here his shade is furious.

He was an arrogant man in life, with no goodness to remember him by, and now his spirit is equally furious in Hell.

_Virgil explains Filippo Argenti's character and eternal state._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_divine_comedy_se/chapters/canto-viii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_divine_comedy_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_divine_comedy_se/chapters