Inferno - Canto Ventottesimo

Date and Setting

The twenty-eighth canto of Dante Alighieri's Hell takes place in the ninth bolgia of the eighth circle, where the sowers of discord are punished. The story occurs on the afternoon of either 9 April 1300 (Holy Saturday) or 26 March 1300, according to different commentators.

Themes and Content

### The Sowers of Discord - Verses 1-21

In the previous canto, Dante announced this bolgia as the one where those who sowed discord among people would be punished. The narrative begins with Dante struggling to describe the blood and wounds he sees in this pit. He lacks both the language suitable for the situation and the mental ability to comprehend what he is witnessing.

To convey his experience, Dante uses a long figurative image: if one could unite all the people living under the influence of Fortuna in the land of Puglia (a broad sense of continental Italy), he felt that they would be able to understand the horrors he sees. This image serves as a metaphor for the chaos and destruction caused by those who sow discord.

The canto focuses on the punishment of the sowers of discord, highlighting their role in creating divisions and harm among people.