The Vestibule
Whereat, with horror flapping round my head:
"Master, what's this I hear? Who can they be,
These people so distraught with grief?" I said.
And he replied: "The dismal company
Of wretched spirits thus find their guerdon due
Whose lives knew neither praise nor infamy;
They're mingled with that caitiff angle-crew
Who against God rebelled not, nor to Him
Were faithful, but to self alone were true;
Heaven cast them forth - their presence there would dim
The light; deep Hell rejects so base a herd,
Lest sin should boast itself because of them."
-Inferno III 31-42
Here, Dante observes the Vestibule, an open space stretching before
the river Acheron. The inhabitants of the Vestibule are the first
human shades (or spirits) that Dante and Virgil encounter. This area is
reserved for those shades who have no belief in either God or the Devil
("Who against God rebelled not, nor to Him / Were faithful..."
- it is interesting to note that Satan's name is not used directly
, a pattern continued in the Inferno).
Like many of the inhabitants of the Inferno, the non-believers are
tormented by their choice in life. They run eternally after a standard
(or banner), trying to find something to follow, after following nothing
in their corporeal life.
Proceed to the River Acheron
Return to the Gateway
Return to Nosferatu's Chapel
