Whirling Banner of Futility

When I read Dante's description about the vestibule of hell from Canto lll, the 'whirling banner' that 'could never find rest' unnerved me the most; strangely enough, paintings depicting the American Revolutionary War came to mind. In many of these paintings, a flag is held up high by one or two soldiers or by George Washington himself. These men dedicated themselves to a cause that cost numerous lives. But it was for something they believed in. Dante's Inferno would probably see them in Paradiso. For such a patriotic image to be inversely reflected (by my mind, of course, not Dante's, since he and the revolutionary war are centuries apart :P) in purgatory is disturbing. All the same, I appreciate the eerie symbolism.