![]() While interest in Dante’s treatment of the neutrals was indeed somewhat present in previous years-Teddy Roosevelt is one of the most notable cases-it is between 19 that this interest becomes increasingly independent from Dante’s original text of and takes a life of its own. If this quote is so different from Dante’s actual text, then, where did it originate? We need to look at the first years of World War I, a time in which neutrality acquired a whole new meaning for the American public. ![]() World War I and the Race Against Neutrality The only slight exception to this point is Dante’s mention of neutral angels, whose fate was sealed during the first “crisis” in the entire universe, Lucifer’s celestial coup. ![]() While Dante is undoubtedly no stranger to nostalgia for a golden age of nobility and the belief in the urgency of certain ethical choices, these notions have no place in his discussion of the neutrals. The pseudo-Dante quote also establishes the condition in which neutrality deserves to be punished, that is, in the face of a “great moral crisis,” a perceived threat to established ethical principles. Dante believes that God is the ultimate source of life and desire, the opposite of which-Cocytus, the core of evil, where Lucifer lies with traitors-is a frozen lake far from any warmth. Another immediate difference is that the lowest regions of Dante’s hell are, in fact, increasingly cold. In Inferno, neutrals do not reside in one of the “hottest places in hell”- they are simply not in it. The state of these souls differs quite evidently from the one reported in the pseudo-Dante quote. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm-neither hot nor cold-I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. Through Virgil, he tells us that these souls are not worth an ounce of attention and repeatedly characterizes them as “wretches who were never alive,” “miserable,” and “displeasing both to God and to his enemies.” He created a space in the afterlife to represent their rejection from God’s plan of salvation and retribution, putting his original twist to a well-known biblical passage (Rev. 3.37-39).ĭante’s condemnation of cowardice is unequivocal. These souls share their gruesome punishment with those angels who did not take a side during Lucifer’s rebellion ( Inf. 3.34) and spent their lives in selfish pusillanimity, refusing to commit to good and sin alike. Here, between the gates of hell and hell proper, Dante encounters countless souls who have been rejected by heaven and hell because they “lived without infamy and without praise” ( Inf. The case we are going to discuss tells us a very specific story-how Dante, his authority, and the religious implications of the Divine Comedy were transformed into a strategic rhetorical tool in twentieth-century American political debates.Įverything begins in the third canto of Inferno, the first canticle of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Apocryphal sayings tell us ever-shifting stories of encounter, assimilation, and appropriation. The thing about apocryphal sayings-words that are attributed to an author or a celebrity although they never actually said them-is that they speak volumes about how communities take ownership of culture and ideas. Kennedy’s frequent and strategic use of the pseudo-Dante quote. Finally, Deborah Parker has examined John F. Akash Kumar has shown that Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) was an avid reader of Dante and that the Divine Comedy may have had some influence on his thoughts on inaction. ![]() Guy Raffa has explained that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s support of Abraham Lincoln and abolitionism may have influenced his translation of the Divine Comedy into English. Dennis Looney has uncovered the unique patterns of Dante’s reception by African American writers. The truth is, this quote-which I am going to call “pseudo-Dante”-does not belong to neither of the three, and that is precisely what makes it so unique.Īs many studies have demonstrated, Dante’s interest in political engagement and ethics has been a central aspect of his reception in the United States. In fact, you may have seen people arguing on Twitter over who should be listed as the legitimate author of this saying. “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.” You have probably encountered this quote somewhere-on social media, as the opening quote of a bestselling novel, in an op-ed advocating for activism on either side of the political spectrum-attributed to either Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), John F.
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