The Crossing of the Styx and Filippo Argenti

The Crossing of the Styx and Filippo Argenti is a pivotal event in Dante Alighieri's Inferno, Canto VIII, in which the poet and his guide Virgil cross the marshy river Styx on the boat of the wrathful ferryman Phlegyas, encounter the Florentine nobleman Filippo Argenti immersed in the mire, and witness his violent punishment by the other wrathful souls, before arriving at the gates of the city of Dis, where they face their first major supernatural opposition. This sequence marks the transition from the upper circles of incontinence to the lower city of active evil, and it is the first time Dante himself actively participates in the damnation of a sinner, revealing his own capacity for righteous anger and his evolving understanding of divine justice.

The Crossing of the Styx and the Wrathful

Long before the travelers reach the foot of the tower that marks the boundary of the fifth circle, two flamelets appear on its summit, answered by a third from afar, a signal that alerts the ferryman of the marsh. Virgil interprets the signal for Dante, explaining that what they expect can now be discerned across the turbid waves, if the reek of the morass does not conceal it. A small boat then speeds across the water toward them, guided by a single pilot, who shouts at Dante, "Now art thou arrived, fell soul?" This pilot is Phlegyas, the mythological king who burned down the temple of Apollo and was condemned to the underworld; here he serves as the demonic ferryman of the Styx. Virgil rebukes him, saying, "Phlegyas, Phlegyas, thou criest out in vain for this once; thou shalt not have us longer than in the passing of the slough." Phlegyas, hearing this, becomes as one who listens to some great deceit that has been done to him and then resents it, his gathered wrath evident. Virgil descends into the boat and makes Dante enter after him; only when Dante enters does the boat seem laden, a sign of his physical body. The antique prow goes on its way, dividing more of the water than it is wont with others, because of the living weight it carries. As they run through the dead canal, a figure full of mire rises up in front of Dante and asks, "Who 'rt thou that comest ere the hour?" Dante replies, "Although I come, I stay not; but who art thou that hast become so squalid?" The figure answers, "Thou seest that I am one who weeps." Dante then recognizes him and curses him: "With weeping and with wailing, thou spirit maledict, do thou remain; for thee I know, though thou art all defiled." The sinner stretches both his hands toward the boat, but Virgil thrusts him back, saying, "Away there with the other dogs!"

Filippo Argenti and Dante's Disdain

After pushing the sinner away, Virgil embraces Dante, kisses his face, and praises him: "Disdainful soul, blessed be she who bore thee in her bosom." He explains that the man was an arrogant person in the world, that goodness is none that decks his memory, and that his shade is furious here as well. Virgil then reflects on the fate of the powerful: "How many are esteemed great kings up there, who here shall be like unto swine in mire, leaving behind them horrible dispraises!" Dante, emboldened, expresses a wish to see the sinner soused into the broth before they leave the lake. Virgil assures him that he will be satisfied before the shore reveals itself, saying, "Such a desire 'tis meet thou shouldst enjoy." Shortly afterward, Dante witnesses the other souls of the mire making havoc of the sinner; they all shout, "At Philippo Argenti!" and the exasperated spirit, a Florentine, turns upon himself with his own teeth. Dante reports that he still praises and thanks God for this spectacle. The travelers leave him there, and Dante tells no more of him. This episode is the first and only time in the Inferno that Dante expresses personal vindictiveness toward a damned soul, and Virgil not only permits it but actively encourages it, marking a crucial step in Dante's moral education: he must learn to hate sin with the same intensity that God does.

The Approach to the City of Dis

As they continue, a lamentation strikes Dante's ears, and he becomes intent, unbarring his eyes. Virgil announces, "Even now, my Son, the city draweth near whose name is Dis, with the grave citizens, with the great throng." Dante sees its mosques clearly within the valley, vermilion as if issuing from fire. Virgil explains that the eternal fire that kindles them within makes them look red. They arrive within the deep moats that circumvallate the disconsolate city; the walls appear to be of iron. After making a wide circuit, they come to a place where the pilot cries out, "Debark, here is the entrance." At the gates, Dante sees more than a thousand angels who have rained down from Heaven, angrily demanding, "Who is this that without death goes through the kingdom of the people dead?" Virgil makes a sign of wishing secretly to speak with them. They quell their disdain somewhat and say, "Come thou alone, and he begone who has so boldly entered these dominions. Let him return alone by his mad road; try, if he can; for thou shalt here remain, who hast escorted him through such dark regions." Dante is deeply discomforted, believing he will never return. He pleads with Virgil not to desert him, but Virgil reassures him, saying, "Fear not; because our passage none can take from us, it by Such is given." He tells Dante to await him and comfort his weary spirit with a better hope, then goes forward alone to parley with the fallen angels. The demons close the portals on Virgil's breast, and he returns to Dante with his eyes cast down and his forehead shorn of all its boldness, sighing, "Who has denied to me the dolesome houses?" He then tells Dante not to fear, for he will conquer in the trial, and reveals that this arrogance is not new: the same demons once used it at a less secret gate, which still finds itself without a fastening. He alludes to the coming of a heavenly messenger who will open the city, saying, "One by whose means the city shall be opened." This sets the stage for the dramatic intervention of the angel in Canto IX.

Thematic Significance

The Crossing of the Styx and the encounter with Filippo Argenti serve as a crucial test of Dante's moral and emotional development. The episode dramatizes the distinction between the sin of wrath, punished in the muddy waters of the Styx, and the righteous indignation that Dante must cultivate as a pilgrim of divine justice. Virgil's approval of Dante's harsh words and his blessing of the poet's "disdainful soul" indicate that Dante is learning to align his will with God's judgment. The physical crossing itself, with Phlegyas's boat sinking lower under Dante's living weight, underscores the ontological difference between the living pilgrim and the dead souls. The subsequent arrival at the gates of Dis and the refusal of the fallen angels to admit them introduce the theme of demonic rebellion against divine will, a rebellion that will be overcome only by direct heavenly intervention. This event thus marks the end of the relatively passive observation of the upper circles and the beginning of the active spiritual combat that characterizes the lower Inferno.