In Dante's _Inferno_ Vergil
appeases him by casting handfuls of earth into his maw.
xxxv. In this stanza we see the influence of Homer and Vergil. Ixion, the
king of Lapithae, was chained by order of Zeus to a fiery-winged wheel for
aspiring to the love of the goddess Hera (Juno). Sisyphus had to roll a
huge stone forever up a hill for betraying the designs of the gods.
Tantalus, for divulging the secrets of Zeus, was condemned to stand
tormented by thirst in a lake. Tityus, for an assault on Artemis, was
pinioned to the ground with two vultures plucking at his vitals. Typhoeus,
a hundred-headed giant, was slain by Zeus' thunderbolt, and buried under
Aetna. The gin on which he was tortured was probably the rack of the Middle
Ages. Cf. the bed of Procrustes. Theseus, for attempting to carry off
Persephone, was fixed to a rock in Tartarus. The "fifty sisters" are the
fifty Danaides, who, for slaying their husbands, were condemned to pour
water forever into a vessel full of holes.
322. SAD AESCULAPIUS, the god of medicine, slain by Zeus for arresting
death and diseases.
354. AND FATES EXPIRED, and the threads of life which the fates (Parcae)
had severed.
387. GREAT PAINES, AND GREATER PRAISE, etc. His praise, like his pain, is
to be eternal.
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