Dante and Virgil had just finished talking to Dante’s old teacher, Brunetto. They continue on towards a waterfall when 3 ghosts (or shades) run over to them.
I was already where we heard the noise
Of water winding downward as it spilled
To the next circle with a sound like bees,
When three shades bolted from a troop that filed
Under the rain of torment. Running toward us,
They cried: “Stop here, O you who are appareled
Like one in our own degenerate city’s dress.”
Ah me! – what wounds both old and new I saw
Where flames had burned their limbs: the same distress
Pains me again when I recall it now.
My teacher heeded their cries, then faced me to say,
“Now wait a little: to these three, one should show
Courtesy. Were it not for the fire let fly
By the nature of this place, I’d say such haste
Befits you more than them.” We stopped; the three
Resumed their old lament – and when they had raced
Up to us, linked their bodies in a wheel.
As champions, naked and oiled, before the thrust
And parry begin, will eye their grip and circle
Seeking advantage, so each directed his face
Toward me, turning his neck against the pull
Of the ever-moving feet.
We learned from Brunetto, in the last canto, that the homosexuals must remain in constant, futile movement or they are punished by being made to lay in the burning sand for 100 years without being able to slap the flames from their body. So these 3 men rush over, link arms and dance around in a circle so they can talk to Dante.
The recognize Dante by his clothing. I read that Florentine upper class were well known for their expensive fashions. But I also wonder if it wasn’t a gentle jab at the characteristic of homosexual men to be overly interested in fashion.
They are “naked and oiled” and linked together somewhat resembling wrestling. Without their clothes there is no indicator of their social status. You will see they still suffer a lot of pride so being naked must have been humiliating. They had high status, honor and respect while on earth but not here.
They have burns all over their bodies like Brunetto’s “scorched face” and “baked features” in Canto XV.
“If our sandy place
Of squalor and charred features scorched of hair,”
One of them said, “lead you to show to us,
And what we ask, contempt – may our fame inspire
You to inform us who you are who who pass
Through Hell with living footsteps. This man here,
Whose tracks you see me trample, though he goes
Naked and peeled was of a rank more high
Than you suppose: his noble grandmother was
The good Gualdrada; his own name used to be
Guido Guerra, and in his life he attained
Mush with his counsel and his sword. And he
Who treads the sand behind my feet is named
Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, a man whose voice
The world should more have prized. And I, condemned
With them, am Jacopo Rusticucci, who fierce
Wife more than anything brought me wretchedness.”
Guido Guerra (1220-1272) son of Count Marcovaldo and Beatriz dei Conti de Capraia e Limite. One of the Conti Guidi and a great grandson of Bellincione Berti dei Ravegnani. He spent some time at the Court of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, where he became one of the pupils of the sovereign. He was a Florentine Guelph. He was a confidante of Pope Innocenzo IV. From 1248 was Captain General of the Holy See. As man-at-arms fought in 1255 at the service of Florence against the aretini and 1260 participated in the battle of Montaperti, where they were defeated by the Guelphs, causing an exile from Florence. Guido Guerra tried to dissuade Florentine Guelfs from engaging Farinata and Sienese Ghibellines at Montaperti, but his advice was unheeded. Entered the service of Charles I of Anjou fought at San Germano and battle of Benevento (1266), where the parte guelfa was collected. On that occasion, particularly receiving distinguished Guido honors and recognitions. He married Agnesina, perhaps of Fieschi relatives of Pope Innocent IV, but he had two illegitimate children with Giovanna of the Marquises Pallavicini.
Gualdrada Berti was born circa 1160 and was the daughter of Bellincione Berti de los Ravignani. She was upheld as a woman of virtue and modesty.
Giovanni Boccaccio’s On Famous Women (De mulieribus claris) biography 103 tells her twelfth century story. During a festival in a Florentine Church of Saint John the Baptist, the Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV came to the city and entered the church with his entourage. From his seat he spotted Gualdrada and was impressed with her beauty. He admired her innocence in youth, the way she dressed, and her personality. He asked an elderly gentleman that was near him,
“Who, pray tell, is that girl there facing us with the beautiful face that in my opinion surpasses all the others in dignity?”
The emperor did not know that he was asking her father. Bellincion answered the emperor, saying,
“Your Majesty, whoever she may be, she will kiss you at my bidding if you desire.”
Gualdrada overheard this and was embarrassed and wished that her father would not be so bold with his offers. She immediately replied,
“Father, please stop. Speak no more. For by Heaven, unless force is used, absolutely no one except the man to whom you will give me in lawful and holy matrimony shall receive what you are offering so freely.”
The Emperor was both stunned and impressed by this response from Gualdrada. Learning that he was speaking to her father, he praised her in an eloquent speech to everyone of her virtue. As he was leaving the festival he summoned one of his barons, called Guido, and promoted him to a count. He then presented to Gualdrada a large dowry consisting of Casentino and a part of the territory of Romagna. Gualdrada was then given to Guido in marriage. From the marriage of Gualdrada and Guido came two sons, Guglielmo and Ruggieri. Ruggieri was the father of Guido Guerra. – Wikipedia
Tegghiaio Aldobrandi was son of Aldobrando degli Adimari, a Florentine, he was podestà of San Gimignano on imperial mandate and Podestà of Arezzo in 1256. He fought in the battle of Montaperti as a Guelph. He had advised against attacking Siena, but his advice was not heeded and it was the defeat of his faction. He died in exile in Lucca in 1262.
Jacopo Rusticucci (aka Iacopo Rusticucci) was a Guelph in the factional politics of his day. From humble beginnings in a family of Florence’s minor nobility, he achieved great wealth, and prominence as a politician and diplomat. In the mid-1250s Rusticucci was active as a diplomat at a time when Florence exerted its power over the neighboring cities of Pistoia, Siena, and Pisa. Rusticucci also served as capitano del popolo of Arezzo in 1258.
Jacopo lived in the quarter of Porta San Piero, and was a close neighbour of Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, with whom he, as a Guelph, was often engaged in political and diplomatic affairs. Benvenuto tells the following story of him and his wife:
Iste fuit miles fiorentinus, . . . vir popularis, sed tamen valde politicus et moraiis, . . .: homo valde dives, sed prudens, placidus et liberalis; qui poterat videri satis felix inter cives suos, nisi habuisset uxorem pravam; habuit enim mulierem ferocem, cum qua vivere non poterat; ideo dedit se turpitudini. Unde narratur de eo, quod cum semel introduxisset puerum in cameram suam, ista mulier furibunda cucurrit ad fenestram palatii sui, et coepit clamare ex alta voce: ad igem, ad ignem. Tunc concurrentibus vicinis, iste Jacobus egressus cameram coepit minari uxori mortem, at illa, rediens ad fenestram, clamare coepit: non veniatis, quia ignis extinctus est. Et sic nota cum quanta solertia et prudentia viri debeant ducere uxores. Vide, ad quid devenerit iste valens miles. Vere acerbior poena inferni est suavis respectu malae uxoris; per diem non habes bonum, per noctem peius. (Latin)
He was a soldier of Florence. . . popular, but still very much a political Moraio. . .: He was a very rich man, but wise, gentle and generous; The man who could be seen as very happy among the citizens of his own, unless you had a perverse wife; for He had a wild woman, with whom he could not live; so he gave in to filthiness. Is a story about the fact that they had brought him after having once been a young man to her room, that woman is still raging; he ran to the window of his palace, and he began to cry out and said to the igeme, “Fire!”. Then he left the room and began to threaten the wife’s death to the neighbors, but she went to the window and began to cry, “The fire was put out”. Thus be familiar with how much skill and intelligence should be used when marrying a woman. See, the Valiant knight! To what end is this little story. Harsh punishment of hell it is if you don’t have the sweet respect of your wives. The day is not good, and the night is worse. (English, to the best of my ability and Google translation)
Jacopo Rusticucci blames his wife for his sins. Ah, what little fig leaves we use as justifications for our sins. When Eve disobeyed and ate the fruit, she took it to Adam who disobeyed and ate the fruit… God confronted them. He certainly knew exactly what had happened but God asked them leading questions to try to get them to repent. But neither one of them could be honest. They hid behind the fig leaves of blaming someone else. “The serpent made me…”, “The woman YOU gave me made me…”. Fingers pointing everywhere but to self. We blame others, we blame circumstances, we even blame God for our sins.
What is repentance? It’s the changing of the mind. When we stop blaming someone or something else for our failings and sins and we realize… we sinned! We are sinners and the result of sin is death and judgment! We see things differently and are convicted when we see our sins for what they are. All the justifications, explanations, excuses are ripped away and we know we deserve our punishment. The Holy Spirit works in our lives to convict us of sin and to reveal the only antidote to the poison of sin, Jesus Christ. We turn to Jesus Christ and beg for forgiveness and mercy. That’s repentance and is the moment we are saved and born again! Jesus Christ never turns away a person who repents and turns to Him, no matter what the sins are. His death was enough; His blood was enough; His broken body was enough to cover all sin. We just have to accept His sacrifice on our behalf. And we are cleansed! No longer filthy in sin. No longer quavering behind fig leaves of excuses. No longer wallowing in our sin. We are free, washed and clothed in HIS righteousness! We are accepted into His family as children of God. We have access to the Father. God is good!!!! Praise His Name forever!!!!
Psalm 51:1-10 (TPT) 1-2 God, give me mercy from your fountain of forgiveness!
I know your abundant love is enough to wash away my guilt.
Because your compassion is so great,
take away this shameful guilt of sin.
Forgive the full extent of my rebellious ways,
and erase this deep stain on my conscience.
3–4 For I’m so ashamed.
I feel such pain and anguish within me.
I can’t get away from the sting of my sin against you, Lord!
Everything I did, I did right in front of you, for you saw it all.
Against you, and you above all, have I sinned.
Everything you say to me is infallibly true
and your judgment conquers me.
5 Lord, I have been a sinner from birth,
from the moment my mother conceived me.
6 I know that you delight to set your truth deep in my spirit.
So come into the hidden places of my heart
and teach me wisdom.
7 Purify my conscience! Make this leper clean again!
Wash me in your love until I am pure in heart.
8 Satisfy me in your sweetness, and my song of joy will return.
The places within me you have crushed
will rejoice in your healing touch.
9 Hide my sins from your face;
erase all my guilt by your saving grace.
10 Create a new, clean heart within me.
Fill me with pure thoughts and holy desires, ready to please you.
These 3 men were older than Dante from the prior generation. He certainly knew them from his reaction, “I would have thrown myself down into the fosse among them… to embrace them” but he couldn’t because of the burning sand and the rain of flames. He respected what they had done while living.
These men had been men of influence, warriors, diplomats and involved in politics. They had evidently done many good deeds. But, our good works are not what gets us into Heaven! We are not saved by anything we do.
Michael Bloomberg announced he was entering the race to become the next Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 2020. He was a former Mayor of New York City (he held office for three consecutive terms) and is a billionaire being one of the ten richest people in the world. His political efforts in the areas of gun control, obesity, smoking, and banning styrofoam in NY are his good deeds according to Bloomberg. He told the New York Times: “I am telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It’s not even close.” He ended his campaign in March 2020 after spending $935 million of his own money setting the record for the most expensive U.S. presidential primary campaign.
I’m sorry that Bloomberg believes he can earn, or buy, his way into Heaven. He’s sadly mistaken and so are millions of other people who thought the same way. They think if they give money for a stained glass window in the church around the corner, they can get into Heaven. Or if they start a charity and donate large sums, they will get into Heaven. They think if they are a hard worker and have stayed out of trouble, generally a “nice guy”, then they will have earned their way into Heaven. But all of that is a lie straight from the Father of Lies, satan! We are born in sin. We are tainted with the sin of Adam and Eve and born in sin. Then, we sin. We sin often. And all it takes is one sin for us to be guilty of sin. No matter how good, kind, generous, or how much money we throw at problems… we are guilty of sin. Therefore, we need a Savior or we will die in our sins and reap judgment. There is no way we can pay for our sins or pay our way into Heaven. If we entered a monastery, fulfilled all of it’s codes of behavior, and didn’t speak our entire lives, we would still be guilty of sin. Because we are born with sin and we would sin by uncharitable thoughts in our minds. God knew this, and in His love and mercy He provided a way for us to be saved from our sins – His Son, Jesus Christ!
Because Dante, the poet, puts these men in Hell, we can assume that they are unrepentant sinners who rejected Jesus Christ as their Savior. Dante gives us subtle clues to verify this. Iacopo Rusticucci blames his shrewish wife for his sin. They all are still prideful, “may our fame inspire you…”, “(he) was a rank more high than you suppose”, “in his life he attained much with his counsel and his sword”, “a man who voice the world should more have prized”.
There is no repentance. There is no pointing to the Savior, Jesus Christ. They only point to themselves. And they dance in the burning sand and slap at the flames of fire that ignite on their skin begging Dante to remind the living of them when he is back in the land of the living. It’s very pathetic pride. They don’t ask him to remember them before God, but before man.
I said,
“No: it was not contempt but sorrow I felt
At your condition – inscribed so deep inside
It will not leave me soon – when this my lord
Spoke words to me which I knew prophesied
Such men as you were coming. I always heard
(Since I am of your city), and have told over
Lovingly, your names and actions, both revered.
I leave the bitter gall behind, and aspire
Toward the sweet fruits promised by my guide,
but first I must go downward to the core.”
Dante, the pilgrim, is learning the lesson God wanted him to learn with this trip through Hell. Dante has loved and respected some great men but has learned that intelligence, riches, good deeds, politics, scholarly works, fame does not earn us a place in Heaven. But Dante, the pilgrim, “must go downward to the core” before he will attain “the sweet fruits promised by my guide”. This epic poem of a spiritual journey through Hell is really what we must do in order to repent and be saved. We have to search ourselves, remove all fig leaves and see the real sin, the real self and find the Savior. The trip through Hell is to bring about this true repentance.
“As your soul long may guide your limbs,” he said,
“With your fame shining after you: so tell
If courtesy and valor still abide
Within our city, where they used to dwell.
Or are they gone from it entirely now –
By Guglielmo Borsiere, who came to Hell
Only a short time past, whom you see go
Among our legion, we have heard things said
That cause us much affliction.”
Guglielmo Borsiere was a Florentine. Boccaccio writes in his Expositions: “Borsiere was cavalier of court, a man highly costumed and in a laudable manner; and it was his exercise, and that of his other equals, to deal peaces between great and kind men, to treat marriages and relatives, and sometimes with pleasant tidings to recreate the souls of hardships and comfort them to honorable things.” And “a man of courteous and elegant manners, and of great readiness in conversation.”
These gentlemen ask Dante if Florence is still a place of courtly values, “courtesy and valor”; the knightly and feudal code of cortesia (not just “courtesy” but “courtliness”). Knighthood, hearkening back to the feudal world of cortesia, was still a criterion of nobility. – DigitalDante.columbia.edu
I don’t know about you but this was a little comical to me. If I was suffering like they were in Hell, and someone came by and I could ask them any question, I believe it would be along the lines of “HOW DO I GET OUT OF HERE!?!?” and not “Is courtesy and valor still in Florence?” But it goes to show they are still attached to the world they lived in. Almost all the sinners who have asked questions in Inferno, ask about something to do with life on earth. They are still attached to the people, the cities, the countries on earth.
As Christians, we realize that we are citizens of Heaven. Our temporary life on earth is like being on a trip to a foreign country. If you went to live in a foreign country, how would people know you were a foreigner? By how you speak, dress, act, the customs you follow, etc. People should know we are Christians by how we speak, dress, act, the customs we follow. We are aliens in a strange land and we should be recognizable as such. And no matter where I live, I’m still a citizen of my homeland and therefore I recognize the authority of my homeland. I may live in London, England but my president is still the President of the United States. I try to obey the laws of my country even if I’m currently living in Paris, France. As a Christian, my King is God the Father. My citizenship is in Heaven. My family is the family of God. I owe first allegiance to my Savior Jesus Christ, Son of God. I’m a loyal citizen and I know from whence I come.
Ephesians 2:19-20 (BSB) 19 Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens of the saints and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.
Philippians 3:18-21 (BSB) 18 For as I have often told you before, and now say again even with tears: Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables Him to subject all things to Himself, will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body.
These men have their minds set on earthly things.
“Newcomers to you
O Florence, and sudden profits, have led to pride
And excess that you already mourn!” I spoke
With face uplifted; the three, who understood,
Then looked at one another with the look
Of men who hear the truth. “If times occur,”
They all replied, “when it again will take
So little effort to answer another’s desire,
Count yourself happy speaking as you wish.
Therefore, if you escape from this dark sphere
To see the beauty of the stars, and relish
The pleasure then of saying, ‘I was there’ –
Speak word of us to others.” Then in a rush
They broke their wheel, and as they fled, the blur
Of legs resembled wings; it took less time
Than saying “Amen” for them to disappear.
Circa 1294, in the canzone Le dolci rime, Dante claims that true nobility resides in virtue, not in lineage, and certainly not in ancient wealth… He mocks those who think that they derive worth and nobility from inherited wealth and status… In Le dolci rime Dante’s point is that even the antiquity of one’s wealth cannot elevate it into the crucible of genuine nobility. In Inferno 16 Dante’s point is that the newly minted material riches of the new families of contemporary Florence are to be denigrated precisely because they are “immediate” and not ancient: “i sùbiti guadagni” (quick gains). – DigitalDante.columbia.edu
Dante, the pilgrim, blames a decline in Florence to the corruption of the nouveau riche. The newly rich have money but no lineage. Dante, the poet, was from an old and noble family but he lacked the riches, and thus, the power. He married a woman of good lineage but who brought little dowry. He recognized that old money didn’t make one virtuous, wise or noble. But, here, he is also recognizing that new money, and a lot of it, certainly doesn’t make one virtuous, wise or noble. Money corrupts power. Dante, the pilgrim, speaks so shortly of the nouveau riche, or “gente nuova”, and how it has corrupted Florence that we easily detect his disdain.
The newly-minted wealthy of Florence were perhaps more threatening to Dante, with respect to his personal status, than the older aristocracy. His own social position as a member of a non-wealthy family that claimed noble antecedents was rather precarious, and it must have been difficult for Dante, the greatly ambitious scion of a somewhat marginal family, to watch the speedy rise of pretentious insurgents. – DigitalDante.columbia.edu
Nobles were expected to use their wealth wisely. They were expected to be generous. Noblesse oblige is French for nobility obligates. It is the inferred responsibility of privileged people to act with generosity and nobility toward those less privileged. An unwritten obligation of people from a noble ancestry to act honorably and generously to others. Nobles were expected to spend generously, with largesse, or with liberality. A nobleman who was a penny pincher and miser was a disgrace. Dante already presented us with the Hoarders.
But there is an opposite extreme which is wasteful squandering of one’s wealth as Dante showed previously with his Squanderers. This is excess, lack of measure, intemperate waste showing a lack of wisdom and self control.
The balance between someone who has money but refuses to be generous and hoards it versus the one who has money but wastes and squanders it is where good wealth management comes in. To know when to be generous and when to snap the purse shut is prudence.
Now that the men have fled, Dante and Virgil continue on to the waterfall. This is a transition. Virgil asks for the cord wrapped around Dante’s waist and he flings it down into the abyss. This “strange signal the master just set out, and follows so attentively with his eye” caused Virgil to explain to Dante that he would soon see something true but “has the face of lies”. I.e it will be unbelievable but true. It is here that Dante, the poet, labels his work, the Comedia. It is something truthful “that has the face of lies”. Unbelievably true (an oxymoron).
that as I was peering through
That murky air, a shape swam up to instill
Amazement in the firmest heart: a thing
Rising the way a man who dives to pull
His anchor free from shoals it is caught among,
Or something else hidden in the sea, with feet
Drawn in beneath him, surges – surfacing
Back from the deep with both arms held up straight.
Excerpts of Inferno are from a new translation by Robert Pinsky.
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