Commentary Inf XVI 46-51

Dante's journey through hell produces no scene in which he is as cordial to a group of sinners as this one (see Holl.1996.1). That his affection is directed toward homosexuals is noteworthy, but does not necessarily involve him in anything more than what a modern reader must consider a remarkable lack of the typical Judeo-Christian heterosexual's scorn for homosexuals. The conversation here, like that with Ciacco, is devoted not to the sin of which these men were guilty, but to their political concerns for Florence, which Dante shares enthusiastically. These men are 'good Guelphs,' as Farinata was a 'good Ghibelline,' leaders who put true concerns for the city over those of party, as Dante surely believed he himself did. How do we know we are not to take Dante's praise ironically? The facts that it is the poet himself -- and not the protagonist -- who gives vent to this expression and that it was Virgil himself who first sponsored such a reverent attitude (at [Inf XVI 14-18]) underlines the seriousness of the poet's positive evaluation of these men. For an earlier occasion on which the protagonist's negative reaction is reinforced by Virgil (and not countered by the voice of the poet), see [Inf VIII 37-45] and C.Inf.XVI.40-45.

For the perhaps surprising relationship between these three figures, the three Graces, and Rodin's 'Three Shades,' see Audeh (Aude.1999.1), p. 137. Rodin's preoccupation with Dante is well known, but perhaps few are aware of the fact that his famous penseroso apparently existed, in Rodin's mind, as a 'portrait' of Dante himself (see Aude.1999.1, p. 152).