Dante takes the character of Minos both from the Aeneid and from ancient mythology. By placing a pagan god in a Christian view of the afterlife, Dante once again demonstrates that he has no problem with mixing vastly different traditions.
             The Lustful punishment is fitting: Those obsessed with the stimulation of the flesh in life now have their nerves unceasingly stimulated by the storm. They are also prone and in the dark, in the manner in which lust is most often acted out. The punishment of the Gluttonous, whose sins also involved an obsession with bodily pleasure, is similarly fitting. Those who could not have enough things pleasing to the taste and other senses now have an overabundance of the most unpleasant food--for eternity. The excrement with which they are doused is both the literal and figurative product of their gluttonous consumption.
             Dante's great pity for those suffering in the Second Circle probably stems from his deep love for Beatrice--he is understanding of those who have fallen because of love. This sympathy even extends to a certain leniency in his placement of some of the characters in this Circle. Dido, for example, committed suicide because of her unrequited love for Aeneas. Most souls that have committed suicide end up far deeper in Hell, as we will see, but Dante chooses to place Dido according to her "lesser" sin, the sin of loving too much. This brings up an interesting dilemma: If a sinner has committed more than one kind of serious sin, to which circle of Hell does he/she belong? Here, Dante chooses the lesser punishment, but this will not be the case with some of the less sympathetic characters who appear later on. We see here that the cool, unbiased judgment of the author may have begun to falter, if only slightly.
             Canto VI gives us the first extensive discussion of Italian politics. Since the journey through Hell is set in 1300, and Dante is writing several years later, he can "predict" the po...