Eighth Circle of Hell in Canto XXVIIIWho, even with free words and numerous attempts at narration, was ever able to tell in his all the blood and wounds I've seen now? Dante begins the beginning of Canto XXVIII with a rhetorical question. He and Virgil have just arrived in the Ninth Abyss of the Eighth Circle of Hell. In this cover, the Sowers of Discord and Schism are continually injured by a demon armed with a sword. Dante poses a question to the reader: who, even with free words and many attempts at narration, could ever tell in full the blood and wounds I now saw? (Lines 1-3) The rhetorical question draws the reader into the passage because we know from this point in the Divine Comedy that Dante is a great poet. What does Dante see before him at the edge of the Ninth Abyss that is so ineffable that he, as a poet, feels incapable of handling? In the following lines, Dante develops this rhetorical position. He explains why it is important for every man to give a good description of what he sees. No poet can achieve this description: “Any language that tried would certainly fail…” (L. 4) It is not only poetic talent that is at stake; poets do not have the knowledge to give them the poetic power necessary for such a description. His reasoning is that “the superficiality of our speech and our intellect cannot contain so much.” (Lines 5-6) Once again, the reader is intrigued; How could a man of Dante's stature criticize the language that is the very tool he uses to create the epic work of La Commedia? If we cannot take Dante seriously with these opening statements, we must ask ourselves what is Dante trying to do by teasing us with this contrived beginning of Canto XVIII? Dante will now contradict himself and attempt to describe what he says is impossible. But if he were to launch into a direct description of the Ninth Abyss, it would deflate his rhetorical position. Instead, Dante first draws a rather lengthy comparison of the sights he has just witnessed with examples of bloodshed throughout human history. Should you gather together all the men who once, in the fateful land of Puglia, had mourned their blood shed at the hands of the Trojans, as well as those who fell