embrace these men who represent to him the golden age of Florentine politics and municipality - "had I been sheltered from the fire I would have thrown myself among them, and I believe my teacher would have let me" (lines 46-48). Dante's outpouring of compassion and his subsequent praise for the trio is very much unprecedented in any of his interactions in Hell heretofore. Dante tells the men that he is Florentine, too, and that their reputations precede them – "how many times I've heard your deeds, your honored names resound! And I, too, spoke your names with affection" (lines 59, 60). The three shades or three Florentines, as they are often called, ask Dante if their city is doing well, to which Dante responds no. In unison, the trio bid Dante successful passage through Hell and make a final request: that Dante should speak them into memory on Earth. And then they run away to join the other sodomites. Dante and Sodomy in the Divine Comedy Dante's favorable treatment of the sodomites is point of confusion and discussion. Many have wondered at the seeming discrepancy between Dante's having placed these men in Hell for a particularly offensive sin, only to sing their praises and show them compassion upon meeting them. In her writing on the circle of sodomy in Inferno, Susan Noakes posits that the answer to this perplexing contradiction exists in the notion that this narrative play is an instance of Dante's critique of his own political beliefs. Noakes argues that at the time he wrote the Divine Comedy, Dante's views had changed and he had realized that "although the Guelph ideal of civic autonomy [was] attractive on the surface, [it was] ultimately unsatisfying to one who reflects on politics deeply." It is a teaching moment for Dante, taught by Dante. Another position advanced by Dante scholars is that Dante's kind treatment of the sodomites is representative of his personal beliefs about homosexuality and whether it were really such a reprehensible sin. References 13th-century people of the Republic of Florence Politicians from Florence Characters in the Divine Comedy