As Dante enters hell under the sign that says, "abandon all hope, ye who enter here," in Canto III, he hears loud noises. These are "strange utterances, horrible pronouncements, accents of anger, [and] words of suffering." They are the sounds made by the great horde of people condemned to live in this ante-chamber of hell.
The real hell is on the other side of the river, where the souls of the damned are ferried across...
As Dante enters hell under the sign that says, "abandon all hope, ye who enter here," in Canto III, he hears loud noises. These are "strange utterances, horrible pronouncements, accents of anger, [and] words of suffering." They are the sounds made by the great horde of people condemned to live in this ante-chamber of hell.
The real hell is on the other side of the river, where the souls of the damned are ferried across by Charon. This ante-hell is the place where the many people who would not take sides in the great battle between good and evil (God and Satan) are forced to live. They are considered cowards because they were afraid to take a stand while alive, and ignored the need to make moral decisions.
They all run in a circle chasing a banner, while their naked bodies are stung by wasps and other insects. Worms writhing on their bodies then suck the blood and tears from their flesh. Not only do they endure physical torment, they are in mental anguish, actually envious of the people streaming by who get to cross the river into hell. This might be the extreme version of the old saying, "grass on the other side aways looks greener."
One of the people in this part of hell is Pope Clementine V, who resigned after five months, only to be replaced by Dante's hated Pope Boniface VIII.
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