The First

A Meeting

I began my journey to my appeal, still brainstorming the finishing touches for my case to get into Heaven. I had to go to the devil at the center of Hell for my first and hopefully only necessary appeal to get to heaven, so I prepared enough time for plenty of unexpected roadblocks--I am in Hell. Thirty minutes in, only starting, I found a man crying on the side of the road. He didn't look ghostly like the rest of us, so I thought he had to be pretty new and upset that he was not in Heaven. Understanding, I approached him. Not many treated me with compassion when I first found myself here, so I have tried to give that courtesy to others in an effort to possibly have friends in the First Circle.

I scared him when I turned the dark corner and emerged from the shadows. He screamed out for help, scared of my appearance, so I backed away. I am not going to force anyone to be my friend. Then he regained his confidence and called out, asking for my name. I answered, "My name is Virgil, the Roman poet. Who are you?"

Immediately he change posture, and excitedly he approached me screaming, "Salve! My name is Dante and it is so great to meet you," and asked me specific details about my poems and praised my skills, barely giving me time to answer. I liked his fascination with me, but his energy was exhausting. I had not spoken to anyone with that many feelings in a long time. He said he was another writer from a city north of Rome. Firenze is what I think he called it, but he spoke so fast. He spoke with his -c like an -h, so I assume Firenze is in Tuscany. Additionally, I do not think he had much notoriety as a writer either, for he was dressed plainly and in possible sleepwear. His outfit needed more gold and color.

As he kept introducing himself, he told me the worst news. He informed me that Rome I knew, no longer existed and that the great Roman cities now ruled themselves. This fact devastated me so much I stopped listening for a period of time to reflect on my own life. I spent so much of my life devoting it to the Republic.

Tears filled his eyes again, so sensing his pain I asked what was the matter. He replied, "I do not know how to escape this place. I am still alive."

Curious about the fact that an alive individual was in Hell, I informed him of the path out. "You can exit by following this yellow path. It will lead you to the deepest part of Hell, where the door to the living is. There is also a shorter way, but blocking that road is a she-wolf you must defeat to exit." I turned to go and he began to plead with me not to abandon him and to show him the way. I wanted to because he was asking, but I did not even know him. However, I realized that God would take kindly to a charitable act. It would help my appeal to Heaven, so I offered to show him how to exit. I was on my way to see the Devil in the center of Hell anyway, and he could come along if he did not make me miss my appearance in court. If he really was a writer, he could also help with my stories and my appeal. Another mind never hurt.

Author's Note

This is based on Dante's Comedy. I switched the perspectives of the original to Virgil's from Dante. His personality is also based on how I felt about him when I read his poems in Latin last year. I found him very full of himself and very stereotypically Roman, so I am basing his entire being on those feelings. Every single person's personality is based upon how I felt when I read their work with my world view as context- like Aristotle sees the slave as natural, so he must not be friendly or inclusive. This awkward dynamic of my impressions by the fragments of their writings left behind will give old men an interesting journey.
In the Divine Comedy, it is obvious Dante adores Virgil and looks up to him as a writer. So much so, he writes a story where he gets to hang out with his favorite character from the past and learn from him.The book is practically an ode to Virgil with Christian symbolism. If Dante was willing to imagine himself on this journey, he would not be able to chill out when he meets Virgil. I am excited to see this from Virgil's perspective after he had been alienated from his peers since he died.
Virgil knows that Dante is from Florence because he has the Florentine accent. This accent that I describe is the modern one, but it is a fun little detail. The Florentine Accent is incredibly noticeable and hard to understand versus the Roma accent. I included the difference is speech pattern to show the differences Italy has within a 200 miles. Despite the 1,000 years of difference in age, Virgil and Dante are from the Italian Peninsula but they had very different experiences because of geography.
This first story is in the first circle of Hell which is where those who lived their lives well but did not commit their souls to Jesus are. Virgil is here because his life for the Roman republic and his art. However, I wrote that he lived his life as a little bit more exciting, so he could have more complaints because that is what I feel his personality would be like. I never found exactly how he spent his free time, so I do not know how virtuous he was. But because he was Roman, I am assuming he liked to indulge a little by nature. Virgil lived in the Imperial stage of Rome, but I have him mentioning the Republic because the upheaval of the Republic was a disgraceful event. Roman's were proud of their Republic and when it transformed into an Empire, Augustus did not call himself a king, despite establishing a hereditary monarchy, he called himself the Princeps, changing the name of the oldest member of the senate to the leader, hiding his true position. So Virgil, a citizen of Augustus's rule, would not see Rome as an Empire (or at least not admit it), he would still take pride in the Republic.

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