Study Questions
1. For what does the tall flame have to wait before it can pass on to another place?

2. What was the purpose of the Sicilian bull?

3. What is meant by the statement that uncontrite is unabsolved?

4. What is the occupation of the shade before he became a friar?

5. Who is the shade who asks of conditions on earth in this canto?

6. Why does the shade reveal his identity to Dante?

7. What does Dante tell him of the condition of Romagna?

8. Why is the shade present in Bowge VIII?

9. The shade says it was brought to Minos. Who is Minos?

10. Why had Constantine sought Silvester, according to the shade?

Answers
1. The tall flame has to wait for Virgil’s permission before it can pass on to another place.

2. The Sicilian bull was used to roast its victims alive.

3. If one is not sorry (uncontrite), one is not forgiven (unabsolved).

4. Before the habit, the shade was a man of arms, a soldier, a Cordelier.

5. The shade is a great Ghibelline leader by the name of Guido da Montefeltro.

6. The shade reveals his identity to Dante because he does not believe that Dante will return to earth.

7. Romagna, Dante tells him, has no open strife at the time, but there is always feuding in the area.

8. The shade had counseled fraud.

9. Minos is the judge in the underworld.

10. According to the shade, Constantine had sought Silvester to cure his leprosy. Silvester did this through baptism.