Eric (Terry David John Pratchett) читать бесплатно онлайн полную версию книги

18

The whole sequence in Hell is based loosely on Dante’s Inferno (which in turn is based on Vergil’s Aeneid) in much the same way the book as a whole is based on Faust. Rincewind and Eric correspond to Vergil (who is Dante’s guide to Hell) and Dante in the same way that they are Mephistopheles and Faust. The various references to the geographical topology build on how Dante organised Hell in nine concentric circles (this of course had to become eight circles for the Discworld version!). The outer circles contained lesser sinners, such as Julius Caesar and Socrates, while the inner circles were reserved for mortal sinners (mostly Dante’s political enemies; some people down there weren’t dead at the time of publication, but got a mention anyway). At the centre, in the 9th circle, Lucifer sits chewing away on Brutus, Crassus and Judas. If you climb over him you get to Purgatory, meeting Cato the younger on the way.