Study Questions
1. Where is Dante when he awakes from his swoon?

2. What causes Dante to wake from his swoon?

3. What causes the thunder Dante heard?

4. What is the sound of the first circumference?

5. Who is in the First Circle?

6. Who are the four mighty shades?

7. Dante says that the group of six dwindles to two. What does he mean?

8. What is the occupation of the “men that know”?

9. Why is the first circle called “Limbo”?

10. Who is the first father that the one with crowns took from the First Circle?

Answers
1. Dante is on the brink of the pit when he awakes.

2. Thunder wakes Dante from his swoon.

3. The thunder that Dante hears is the sound of the wails of anguish from the pit.

4. The sound of the first circumference is that of sighing.

5. In the First Circle are those who are blameless but are unbaptized and lived before the days of Christendom.

6. Homer, Horace Ovid and Lucan are the four shadows.

7. Horace, Homer, Ovid, and Lucan stay behind and Virgil and Dante move forward.

8. The men that know are philosophers and teachers.

9. The First Circle is called Limbo because the souls there are neither in Heaven nor in Hell.

10. The first father whom the one with crowns rescued was Adam.