# Canto XXVI: The Eighth Bolgia – Ulysses and Diomed explained — The Divine Comedy

> Chapter companion for The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri.

## What happens

Dante and Virgil descend into the eighth Bolgia of Malebolge, where evil counsellors are punished. Dante sees flames moving within the ditch, each containing a sinner. Virgil identifies a double flame as Ulysses and Diomed, who are tormented together for their deceptions, including the Trojan Horse and the theft of the Palladium. At Dante's request, Virgil speaks to the flame, and Ulysses recounts his final voyage: after leaving Circe, he set sail with his aging crew past the Pillars of Hercules, urging them to pursue virtue and knowledge. They sight a great mountain, but a whirlwind sinks their ship, and the sea closes over them.

## Themes in this chapter

### Knowledge, Reason, and Faith

Ulysses' pursuit of knowledge and experience, even beyond divinely set limits, leads to his damnation, illustrating the peril of reason without virtue.

### Divine Justice

The punishment of evil counsellors, who are hidden within flames, reflects the justice of being consumed by the fire of their own deceitful counsel.

## Character check-ins

### Dante Alighieri

The pilgrim who observes the flames of the eighth Bolgia and expresses sorrow at the memory of what he saw.

### Virgil

Dante's guide who identifies the flames of Ulysses and Diomed and speaks to them on Dante's behalf.

### Ulysses

The Greek hero punished as an evil counsellor; he narrates his final, ill-fated voyage beyond the known world.

### Diomed

Greek hero who shares Ulysses' flame and is punished alongside him for their joint deceptions.

## Key lines

> Consider ye the seed from which ye sprang; Ye were not made to live like unto brutes, But for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.

Remember your noble human origins; you were not created to live like animals, but to strive for virtue and knowledge.

_Ulysses' famous exhortation to his crew, which ironically leads them to their doom._

> Three times it made it whirl with all the waters, At the fourth time it made the stern uplift, And the prow downward go, as pleased Another, Until the sea above us closed again.

The whirlwind spun the ship three times, then on the fourth it lifted the stern and drove the prow down, as God willed, until the sea swallowed us.

_Ulysses describes the sinking of his ship, a divine punishment for his transgressive voyage._

## Links

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