Everybody noticed (maybe) but

perhaps it's worthwhile to notice that the literature (?) class at 00:15:00 and once or twice later on
is about
Dante Alighieri's "La divina commedia" or Divine Comedy, L'Inferno (Hell) as in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferno_(Dante)

the 3rd "Canto", 1-9: inscription on the gate of Hell
(Abandon all hope, you who enter here)
http://www.bartleby.com/20/103.html#txt1

the telltale quote is obviously all but random.

There's no "salvaging" the lost souls (le perdute genti) by then though, because the inscription is there for the doomed to appreciate it and then start grieving forever and ever

for the record Dante himself seems to be at a loss to grasp the meaning of the murky message , otherwise said: he's so terror-stricken that his mentor has to spell it out for him at once.