Commentary Inf IX 33

There is debate among commentators as to what exactly this sentence means. It seems more likely that the ira ('wrath') referred to is the righteous anger of the forces of God (namely, the angel who is now approaching) rather than the wrath the travelers will encounter in the forces defending the City of Dis, as Boccaccio DDP Boccaccio.Inf.IX.30-33 believes, or the 'wrath' they must employ in order to enter the city (the view of most of the early commentators). In the nineteenth century first Gregorio Di Siena (DDP Siena.Inf.IX.33, haltingly, and then, in a cogent exposition, Andrea Scartazzini (DDP Scartazzini.Inf.IX.33), advanced the view that the 'wrath' in question is represented by the angel's assault upon the closed city. That seems the most convincing reading. Among modern discussants, see Casagrande's strong defense of this angelic hypothesis (Casa.1978.1), pp. 233-235. And for textual confirmation of this view see v. 106, below, where Virgil and Dante, after the angel's intervention, enter the city of Dis without further struggle.