Virgil and Dante spent some time in the seventh circle of Hell going past the three rings. The seventh circle of Hell was the place for punishing the Violent against others, selves and God. Not only physically violent but violent over other’s possessions. When they got to the edge of this circle, Virgil calls up a hideous monster called Geryon and he insists they must ride Geryon on a flight down to the next level of Hell. In our last study on Canto XVII, Dante describes his terror during the flight down.
Today we find Dante and Virgil in the eighth circle of Hell and it contains 10 “pouches” or ditches. Dante compares them to moats around a castle. It is called Malebolge which means “evil ditches”. Male is evil or sickness. Bolgia means pit, pouch, chasm, trench, moat, ravine. It is pronounced Mah-lay-bulge-ay. The eighth circle makes up 38% of Dante’s Hell as far as the poem is concerned. This circle is huge and is for punishing Fraud with each ditch punishing a different kind of fraud. We will be looking at each one.
There is a place called Malebolge in Hell,
Constructed wholly of iron-colored stones,
Including the circumferential wall.
Right in the center of this malign field yawns
A wide deep pit: concerning its design
I shall say more in time. A belt remains
Between the base of that high wall of stone
And the central pit, a circular band divided
In ten concentric valleys, as in a plan
Where guardian moats successively are graded
Around a castle’s walls. In such a place
A series of small bridges would be provided,
Out from the fortress threshold and across
To the last bank: just so from the rock wall’s foot
Ran spokewise ridges, crossing over each fosse
And it’s embankment, extending to the pit
That gathers them and cuts them off. This place
Was where we found ourselves when we alit
From Geryon’s back; the poet, leading us,
Held to the left, and I came on behind.
A comedia is a form of writing that willingly embraces every kind of language and style, because it represents all of reality. – DigitalDante.columbia.edu
You will see together, a high style and a low style in these cantos. Dante knows how to talk to the educated and sophisticated. But he can also speak the language of the peasants. It would be like how a man would use a certain language around educated and proper ladies and gentlemen but use vulgarities, slang and low class language when he’s with his buddies on the street.
Something else to pay attention to is the classical and contemporary couplings. Dante has used classical figures in Greek and Roman mythology, as well as, people he knew in his own times or were historically close to his own times. But you will see a lot of couplings now where one classical figure is held up parallel with a contemporary person such as Venedico Caccianemico and Jason in bolgia 1.
In this eighth circle there are ten concentric ditches, or bolgia of “iron colored stone”, with moats between, and rough bridges running across them to the centre like the spokes of a wheel. There are other places for lust (Canto V) and for murder (Phlegethon, the river of blood in Cantos XII and XIII), but they are higher up than this circle, and thus considered less evil. Here abuse, violence and lust were conceived in the mind and willfully put into action. What is done to others through lies, greed and hate by our words, manipulations and deceit are far worse in Dante’s mind than the action done physically to one another. Sin conceived in the heart, rehearsed in the mind and willfully acted upon, knowing full well it’s wrong and is hurting others and society, is worse.
Deuteronomy 5:21 (One of the Ten Commandments) You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Psalm 7:14 (NLT) The wicked conceive evil; they are pregnant with trouble and give birth to lies.
Matthew 5:27-28 (NRSV, Jesus speaking) 27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Matthew 12:33-35 (NLT, Jesus speaking) 33 “A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad. 34 You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. 35 A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.
Matthew 15:19 (NLT) 19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.
James 1:14-15 (BSB) 14 But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed. 15 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Mark 7:14-15; 20-23 (NLT, Jesus speaking) 14 Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “All of you listen,” he said, “and try to understand. 15 It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart… It is what comes from inside that defiles you. 21 For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”
Canto XVIII is a crowded canto and can be divided into five sections:
Description of Malebolge (1-21)
Description of the punishment of the panders and seducers (22-39)
Venedico Caccianemico (40-66)
Jason (67-99)
The bolgia of the flatterers – Alessio Interminelli and Thais (100-136).
In Inferno Canto 11, Malebolge is described by Virgil.
Inferno, Canto 11 14-28;53-65 (parenthesis mine)
“My son,
Within these rocks three lesser circles fall,
Each one below another, like those you have seen
And all of them are packed with accursed souls;
In order that hereafter the sight alone
May be sufficient, you will hear what rules
Determine how and why they are constrained.
The end of every wickedness that feels
Heaven’s hatred is injustice – and each end,
Of this kind, whether by force of fraud, afflicts (Circle 7 was punishment for the Violent and Circle 8 is punishment for Fraud, Malebolge)
Some other person. But since fraud is found
In humankind as its peculiar vice,
It angers God more: so the fraudulent
Are lower, and suffer more unhappiness.
The whole first circle is for the violent;
…
Fraud, which bites every conscience, a man may play
Either on one who trusts him, or one who does not.
The latter of the two is seen to destroy
Only those bonds of love that nature makes:
So in the second circle hypocrisy,
Flatterers, sorcery, larceny, simoniacs,
With pimps, barrators, and such filth have their nest.
But the other kind of fraud not only forsakes
The love that nature makes, but the special trust
That further, added love creates: therefore
At the univere’s core, inside the least
Circle, the seat of Dis, every betrayer
Eternally is consumed.“
Dante and Virgil begin their tour of Malebolge and look into the first ditch.
To my right side I saw new tortures, new woes,
And new tormentors, with whom the first ditch teemed.
Down at its bottom were naked sinners. The crowd
Massed on our side of the center paced the ground
Headed toward us, while those on the other side
Walked facing as we did, but with a greater pace:
As when the Romans, because of the multitude
Gathered for the Jubilee, had pilgrims cross
The bridge with one side kept for all those bound
Toward St. Peter’s, facing the Castle, while those
Headed toward the Mount were all assigned
The other side. Along the dismal rock
In both directions, I saw demons – horned
And carrying large scourges; and they struck
Savagely from behind. Ah, at the first blow
How terribly they forced them to be quick
Lifting their heels! None waited to undergo
The second or the third.
Dante compares the ditch to a bridge over the Tiber during Pope Boniface VIII’s first Jubilee in 1300. The Romans had come up with a new way of crowd control – two way traffic. They had people going towards “St. Peter’s” and the “Castle” of St. Angelo on one side of the bridge. People, going in the opposite direction towards the “Mount”, Monte Gianicolo, on the other side of the bridge.
In the first chasm, Dante and Virgil see it filled with tormented sinners walking in both directions. Demons flog them continuously to keep them moving. These sinners are the Panderers (aka Pimps, those who used others to serve their own purposes). Those walking in the opposite direction are the Seducers (similar to Panderers because they use others for their own needs). These people had used others as merchandise. Human trafficking today is an horrendous problem. They seduce women, or just violently kidnap women, children, even men. They buy and sell them for sexual purposes. Some are in charge of acquisition of “product”. Some are in charge of prepping the “product”. Maybe it’s to drug them and get them addicted and/or raping them to get them ready for whatever vulgar purpose someone wants them for. Sometimes it’s to beat them and abuse them in a way to brainwash them so they don’t try to escape and they give up all hope of rescue. Then there are those who transport them via tractor trailer trucks, vans, ship, boats. They are responsible for keeping the product moving so they don’t get caught or to places where there is demand for sex. Then there are those who arrange assignations and make sure the customer gets what he/she paid for. Then there are those take the money, keep accounts, move money and launder it for the business. Then there are those who violently do whatever it takes to keep the business alive. The thugs who will beat up or even murder anyone along the line including used up prostitutes. They are the clean up crews. There are those who come up with other plans to use the “product” in another way once they’ve lost their usefulness in the sex trade such as selling their organs or selling them into enslavement for work. Then there are the customers, or clients, and they pay for the use of these men, women and children. They are the ones funding it. There would be no business and no human trafficking if it weren’t for those who pay for prostitutes and perverse sex. So those “Johns” are just as responsible for the sex trade and enslavement and kidnapping and suffering as those who provide the prostitutes. There are policemen who are in on the trade who get their cut to turn their eyes the other way. There are lawyers and accountants who are happy to help these illicit trades for the money they make off of it. The lowest common denominator is the poor people who have been taken and abused as nothing but merchandise. Pimps and panderers are nothing but slavers who enslave people and sell them to make money.
But notice, the Seducers are in the same pit. They may not be as “organized” as the sex slave traders but they use women, children, men to fulfill whatever needs they have. They don’t care about the other person, only about fulfilling their wants and needs. It could be a college boy who goes from one girl to the next, seducing them just for sex. He uses a girl like a public toilet and then turns around, walks away and never sees or talks to her again. Girls do it too. They just want a night of fun with “no questions asked” and “no strings attached and no demands”. They are seducing and using a man. There are those who seduce someone in order to con them out of money or to get a promotion or rise through the ranks in their career. It has nothing to do with love, it’s only about using someone else to get what they want. In Dante’s time, marriages were arranged for political alliances and court intrigues were ways of getting power and influence. Some people seduce for revenge. Maybe someone hurt them and they want to hurt the next person. A man may be a misogynist and he enjoys hurting women. A woman may be a misandrist who enjoys hurting men. They use sex to seduce and then ruin them. They get something out of it, but it may not be money.
Just as these sinners had traded sex as a commodity and treated men, women and children as merchandise, now they are treated as slaves and whipped by demons to keep constantly going back and forth, for eternity. Why are they in the circle of Fraud? Fraud is a deliberate, willful misuse of the higher reasoning and intelligence that God gave human beings. They deliberately misuse their God-given intelligence, reasoning, logic to abuse and enslave others. I have often thought what if men used the same intelligence, cleverness, skill and talent they use for criminal activities for the good of society and others? But instead they turn all that God-given intelligence, reasoning, skills, talents and focus it on doing criminal activities and hurting society and others. Such a shame and a waste. It is the destruction of society, civilization and the particular betrayal of trust by others that is punished in the circle of Fraud. There is a general trust by the people in their leaders, political and church, that can be misused and abused. Back in my day, we memorized the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” We tend to believe human beings won’t do such terrible things to someone because they wouldn’t want it done to them. I wouldn’t break into my neighbor’s house and steal because I wouldn’t want that done to me. We have a natural trust that surely someone won’t do something horrible to us. It’s why you hear so many victims of crime say, “I didn’t think it could happen to me”. Then there is the trust of those closer to us such as co-workers, friends, church friends, school friends, neighbors, etc. We know enough about each other to trust they won’t do bad things to us. We have established enough relationship that we think they wouldn’t do anything bad to us. You feel as though there is enough bond there. But the worst kind of betrayal is when someone very close to you betrays your trust such as family members and close friends. We just can’t believe that Uncle SoAndSo would molest our child. He’s family! Surely he wouldn’t do that. Or my best friend wouldn’t kidnap my child and rape them! I’ve had them at my home and at my table many times, they wouldn’t do that to me. My best buddy wouldn’t sleep with my wife behind my back. My husband wouldn’t sleep with someone outside our marriage! My sister wouldn’t abuse or steal from our parents. We are family, surely not!… But, as we know, this trust in others is betrayed by people all day long. They take advantage of our trust to hurt us, our families, our reputations, our finances, etc. It’s a con, a sham, a fake front produced so they can hurt you. It’s fraud. They want to take something from you: money, possessions, your child or spouse, peace of mind, relationships, jobs, virginity, anything! They want to hurt you and they get something out of hurting you.
Leviticus 19:20-22 in the Vulgate (Latin) with translation:
20 homo si dormierit cum muliere coitu seminis quae sit ancilla etiam nubilis et tamen pretio non redempta nec libertate donata vapulabunt ambo et non morientur quia non fuit libera
20 If a man carnally lie with a woman that is a bondservant and marriageable, and yet not redeemed with a price, nor made free: they both shall be scourged: and they shall not be put to death, because she was not a free woman.
21 pro delicto autem suo offeret Domino ad ostium tabernaculi testimonii arietem
21 And for his trespass he shall offer a ram to the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony.
22 orabitque pro eo sacerdos et pro delicto eius coram Domino et repropitiabitur ei dimitteturque peccatum
22 And the priest shall pray for him: and for his sin before the Lord: and he shall have mercy on him, and the sin shall be forgiven.
The form of it is taken from Leviticus 19:20, where, in the Vulgate (see above), scourging is the penalty of seduction. The meaning, however, will be more adequately reached if we compare the sin before us here with the other forms of Sensuality which we have already met. The first, in Circle II, is what we may call natural Sensuality – the mere non-control and excess of a natural appetite. The second is unnatural Sensuality – a positive violation of Nature, and therefore placed much lower down, in Circle VII. The point of importance is that neither of these involves Fraud, whereas precisely this is the distinguishing mark of the sinners of this Moat: their Sensuality is not frank and open, but mean and treacherous. They have all betrayed trust and innocence for the gratification of their own or others’ passions. Now the punishment common to all three forms of Sensuality is a constant and tormenting restlessness – the torture of their own passions which allows them no repose. But there is a great and significant difference in the ministers of vengeance employed. In the case of the natural Sensualists a natural force is used: they are ‘imprisoned in the viewless winds, and blown with restless violence.’ The Sensualists who have violated Nature are punished by a supernatural pain, a fire direct from the Heaven they have defied. But when Sensuality goes hand-in-hand with Fraud, the punishment is, so to speak, infranatural, it is committed to demons: in other words it becomes then a crime of devils, and only devils can adequately requite it. Here for the first time diabolic beings appear as ministers of justice, and this is no accident. Take, for example, the well-known portrait of Dante by Domenico di Michelino in the Cathedral of Florence. On the poet’s right hand the painter shows us the Gate of Hell, with the neutrals inside, driven on by demons. This involves a total misunderstanding of Dante’s moral scheme. The devils do not appear in the Inferno until we come to diabolic sins: they would scorn to waste their time on these neutral cowards. Even when we meet demons at the gate of Dis, it is for the defence of the City they are there, not as tormentors of the lost souls within. In short, comparing the three forms of Sensuality, Dante wishes us to understand that the least guilty species of it is natural and human; lower down it becomes an unnatural mingling of the human and the brute, as in the case of the Minotaur; while in its basest form it is a monstrous union of the human, the brute, and the demonic. This takes place when Fraud enters in. Its symbol is Geryon: the face of a man, the paws of a brute, and the tail of the old serpent, the devil. The demons, therefore, with the horns on their heads which were the recognized symbol of adultery, are an essential element of both the sin and its punishment. The man who can betray innocence and trust, is, in Dante’s regard, a kind of demon, and has, in the diabolic state of his own passions, a fierce and fiendish unrest which passes the bounds of the human, returning him, blow for blow, all the shame and ruin which he inflicted on others. – John S. Carroll (English, 1904), Dantelab.dartmouth.edu
Hebrews 13:4 Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 (CEV) 3 God wants you to be holy, so don’t be immoral in matters of sex. 4 Respect and honor your wife. 5 Don’t be a slave of your desires or live like people who don’t know God. 6 You must not cheat any of the Lord’s followers in matters of sex. Remember, we warned you that he punishes everyone who does such things. 7 God didn’t choose you to be filthy, but to be pure. 8 So if you don’t obey these rules, you are not really disobeying us. Instead, you are disobeying God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
Colossians 3:5-6 (NIV) 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
1 Corinthians 6:9-20 (NLT) 9 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. 11 Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God
12 You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything. 13 You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” (This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. 14 And God will raise us from the dead by his power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead.
15 Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! 16 And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.” 17 But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.
18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
As I walked on,
One of the wretches looking from below
Met my eyes: instantly I said, “I have see
This fellow before,” and paused to make him out;
And my kind leader gave me leave to turn
A short way back. That tortured spirit thought
To hide himself by lowering his face,
But that did little good, and I cried out:
“You, looking at the ground there – surely if those
Features you wear are not false, you are named
Venedico Caccianemico. Say what it is
That brings you sauces of such a pungent kind.”
And he to me: “I tell it unwillingly;
But your plain speech compels me, bringing to mind
Memories of the former world. It was I
Who brought Ghisolabella to do the will
Of the Marchese, however it may be
That the obscene history is told. But still
I am not the only Bolognese here,
Crying in torment – in truth, the place is so full
That there are fewer tongues alive up there
Between Savena and Reno, being taught
How to say sipa; and if what you desire
Is evidence to confirm it – just give some thought
To our avaricious nature.” And as he spoke,
A demon came and lashed him, crying out,
“Get moving, pimp! This is no place to look
For women to sell!” Rejoining my escort…
Dante recognizes one of the pimps. It’s Venedico Caccianemico. Venedico didn’t want Dante to recognize him and tried to hide his face from him. But Dante persisted in calling him out even goading him with a play on words, “Say what it is that brings you sauces of such a pungent kind.” This would be like us saying, “How did you find yourself in such a pickle?” But salse means sauces. It is also the name of an unconsecrated burial pit outside Bologna; a ravine into which the bodies of criminals were thrown. Vendico takes the meaning and realizes Dante is familiar with Bologna and his sordid story.
Venedico Caccianemico dell’Orso (1228 – 1302) – He was the son of Alberto dell’Orso. Their family were Guelphs. They were very active in the internal politics of Bologna. He held numerous political positions and, in turn, suffered exile twice (1287 and 1289). He was always in favor with the Este (or Estensi ) who were one of the longest-lived European ruling families. He wanted to garner political favors from them. In 1294 he married his son Lambertino with the daughter of the Marquis Azzo VIII d’Este, Costanza. After having held the office of mayor in various cities, in 1301, already quite elderly, he was again exiled and died perhaps in 1302 or 1303. Dante alludes to an obscene story that must have been well known at the time, although no traces of it are found in archival sources prior to Dante (perhaps also due to the importance of Venedico). Venedico tried to ingratiate himself with the Este in various ways, hoping to get favors from them. One way was to prostitute his sister to one of the Este men (either Marquis Azzo VIII d’Este or Marquis Opizzo d’Este). Ghisolabella married Niccolò Fontana and died after 1281. – Wikipedia
In this example, Venedico explains he is there due to a filthy tale or an obscene story. It was the subject of gossip and scandal. The men are the perpetrators and hold the power while Ghisolabella was a victim. They both profited from the victimization of Ghisolabella. Venedico got money or favors from the Marchese and the Marchese got sex from Ghisolabella. She got nothing out of their bargain and was abused. We have previously met the Este family in Inferno Canto XII when we saw Opizzo d’Este where he is being punished for being violent towards others and their possessions. He was up to his eyebrows in a river of blood.
If you notice Venedico does not repent or confess. He says he is there because of some gossip about him pimping his sister to the Marchese. Then he points the finger at others, “I am not the only Bolognese here”! There are more Bolognese in bolgia 1 than those currently living between the rivers Savena and Reno and who say “sipa” for “sì” (meaning “yes”). Dante, who had been a student in Bologna, knew the city and it’s inhabitant’s peculiar characteristic vice of avarice. Venedico is basically saying he was raised that way and therefore no one should be surprised at his own avaricious nature. We’ve discussed before how Adam and Eve pointed fingers blaming someone else for their sin of disobedience. They hid behind the fig leaves of blame and it doesn’t work. Venedico is doing the same thing and it didn’t work for him. Venedico tells Dante that if he wants proof of what he said, “just give some thought to our avaricious nature”.
Avarice is extreme greed for wealth or material gain; excessive or insatiable greed; inordinate, miserly desire to gain and hoard wealth. Greed, also known as avarice, cupidity, or covetousness, is, like lust and gluttony, a sin of desire. Avarice breeds other sins and is never satisfied.
1 Timothy 6:9-10 (NLT) 9 But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
We leave Venedico as a demon lashes at him and he runs off.
And as he spoke,
A demon came and lashed him, crying out,
“Get moving, pimp! This is no place to look
For women to sell!”
Virgil calls Dante to stop and look at the Seducers before they leave this bolgia.
“Stop: let the sight of this other great assemblage
Of ill-begotten souls impress you; they strode
The way we did, so you could not see their faces.”
From the old bridge we looked down at the crowd
Filing toward us, also driven by lashes,
The kind guide said, without my questioning,
“See where that great one sheds, as he advances,
No tears for pain – how much the look of a king
He still keeps! He is Jason, who took the ram
Of Colchis by courage and canny reckoning.
He passed the isle of Lemnos after the time
When it’s bold, pitiless women killed every male;
His deceitful gifts and fair words overcame
The young Hypsipyle there, who’d had the skill
To deceive the rest. He left her great with child,
Forlorn; and such guilt brings him torment in Hell,
Avenging Medea as well. With him are sealed
All those who cheat such ways”
Jason was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts. Aeson and Alcimede I had Jason. Pelias (Aeson’s half-brother) was power-hungry and sought to gain dominion over all of Thessaly. In a bitter feud, he overthrew Aeson (the rightful king), killing all the descendants of Aeson that he could. He spared his half-brother. Fearing that Pelias would eventually notice and kill her son, Alcimede sent him away to be reared by the centaur Chiron. Pelias was holding games in honor of Poseidon when the grown Jason arrived in Iolcus. There had been a prophecy to him that someone wearing only one sandal would take the kingdom. When Jason arrived, he was wearing only one sandal having lost one helping an old woman (Goddess Hera in disguise) cross the river Anauros. Pelias said, “To take my throne, which you shall, you must go on a quest to find the Golden Fleece.” Jason readily accepted the challenge. Jason assembled for his crew, a number of heroes, known as the Argonauts after their ship, the Argo. The isle of Lemnos is situated off the Western coast of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). The women there had neglected their worship of Aphrodite, and as a punishment the goddess made the women so foul in stench that their husbands could not bear to be near them. The men then took concubines from the Thracian mainland opposite, and spurned their women. The spurned women, angry at Aphrodite, killed all the male inhabitants while they slept. The king, Thoas, was saved by Hypsipyle, his daughter, who put him out to sea sealed in a chest from which he was later rescued. The women of Lemnos lived for a while without men, with Hypsipyle as their queen. During the visit of the Argonauts the women mingled with the men creating a new “race” called Minyae. Jason fathered twins with the queen. Later, after other adventures, Jason arrived in Colchis (modern Black Sea coast of Georgia) where the Golden Fleece was. It was owned by King Aeetes of Colchis. Aeetes promised to give it to Jason only if he could perform three certain tasks. Presented with the tasks, Jason became discouraged and fell into depression. However, Hera had persuaded Aphrodite to convince her son Eros to make Aeetes’ daughter, Medea, fall in love with Jason. As a result, Medea aided Jason in his tasks. Jason was able to seize the Golden Fleece. He then sailed away with Medea. Medea distracted her father, who chased them as they fled, by killing her brother Apsyrtus and throwing pieces of his body into the sea; Aeetes stopped to gather them. In another version, Medea lured Apsyrtus into a trap. Jason killed him, chopped off his fingers and toes, and buried the corpse. In any case, Jason and Medea escaped. He had more adventures with Medea helping him and finally made it back with the Golden Fleece. In Corinth, Jason became engaged to marry Creusa, a daughter of the King of Corinth, to strengthen his political ties. When Medea confronted Jason about the engagement and cited all the help she had given him, he retorted that it was not she that he should thank, but Aphrodite who made Medea fall in love with him. Infuriated with Jason for breaking his vow that he would be hers forever, Medea took her revenge by presenting to Creusa a cursed dress, as a wedding gift, that stuck to her body and burned her to death as soon as she put it on. Creusa’s father, Creon, burned to death with his daughter as he tried to save her. Then Medea killed the two boys that she bore to Jason, fearing that they would be murdered or enslaved as a result of their mother’s actions. When Jason came to know of this, Medea was already gone; she fled to Athens in a chariot of dragons sent by her grandfather, the sun-god Helios. Later Jason and Peleus, father of the hero Achilles, attacked and defeated Acastus, reclaiming the throne of Iolcus for himself once more. Jason’s son, Thessalus, then became king. As a result of breaking his vow to love Medea forever, Jason lost his favor with Hera and died lonely and unhappy. – Wikipedia
Jason is punished for the two crimes of deserting Hypsipyle and Medea. He used them to get what he wanted and then deserted them when he thought they were no longer needed. You will notice that Venedico had made his sister, Ghisolabella, a victim. But with Jason, Hypsipyle and Medea were aggressors AND victims. They had been “bold, pitiless women”, deceitful and murderous. Jason deceived them both with “his deceitful gifts and fair words”. He must have been pretty seductive to overcome these women. Like Venedico, Jason was not repentant either. He is suffering in Hell but still pretends he is the conquering hero and walks in pride.
Virgil and Dante go to the second bolgia now and see the punishment for the Flatterers.
Now we hear the sounds of people’s screams
From the next fosse’s pocket, and the noise
Made by their puffing snouts and by their palms
As they struck themselves. The banks were caked with mold
That clings there, formed by an exhalation that steams
From down below, offensive to behold
And to inhale. The bottom is so far down
That we could nowhere see it until we scaled
The ridge’s high point at the arch’s crown.
This fosse, moat, pocket is deep and filled with “filth that seemed to drain from human privies”. Back in the day, before there was indoor plumbing and indoor bathrooms, people used outhouses or privies. It was a shed built over a hole to give a person privacy while they pooped and peed in the hole. Without it being flushed away, privies, or outhouses, could be pretty stinky. I will never forget my mother telling me a story of utter humiliation when she was about 3-4 yrs old. Her father was a Baptist preacher and he usually had country churches. This was probably the church in Kentucky, but it didn’t have an indoor bathroom, only an outhouse. She needed to go potty and her mother took her to the privy out back. She was horrified and she didn’t want to sit on the seat built over the hole. Her mother tried to hold her up so she could do her business but she slipped and fell anyway on the seat and she felt humiliated and dirty. She never forgot that image and feeling. She taught all three of her girls never to sit on a public toilet and we’ve tried to pass that down. It’s a truly scummy feeling. Maybe you’ve felt that when you’ve had to use Port-a-potty. But at least they have chemicals that help a little. It’s still a place that you put your mind on “happy things”, grit your teeth, do your business and get out as quick as you can. Then you want to not only wash your hands, but take a dadgum shower afterwards! I truly get the image Dante created here. It’s not just a smelly ditch. It’s a feeling of revulsion, degradation, humiliation, disgust, and filth.
The noise comes not only from screams but “made by their puffing snouts and by their palms as they struck themselves.” Like dogs, they sniff and lick the foul shit to their heart’s content. They slap the shit all over themselves. They live in it, breath it, taste it.
When we had reached it, I saw deep down in the fosse
People immersed in filth that seemed to drain
From human privies. Searching it with my eyes
I saw one there whose head was so befouled
With shit, you couldn’t tell which one he was –
Layman or cleric. Looking at me, he howled,
“And why are you so greedy to look at me
When all of these are just as filthy?” I called:
“Because, if memory serves me properly,
I saw you once when your hair was dry, before –
I know you are Alessio Interminei
Of Lucca, which is why I eye you more
Than all the rest.” And he then, beating his head:
“Down here is where my flatteries, that store
With which my tongue seemed never to be cloyed,
Have sunk me.”
The clergy of the day usually had their hair shaved, or cut, in a certain way that distinguished them at first glance as clergy. A tonsure was a haircut, with different varieties, that were used by monks. It may have been a way of practising humiliation by removing their hair or sporting a rather funny hairstyle. It may have been reminiscent of the crown of thorns forcibly worn by Jesus Christ. It may have just been an identification as to hierarchy within the ranks of monks or which group they identified with.
Dante saw someone he recognized despite the fact that his head was so “befouled with shit” he couldn’t tell if he wore a tonsure. It was Alessio Interminei of Lucca, a noble member of the White Guelph party. Little is known about him now but Dante considered him a good example of flattery. Alessio says, “Down here is where my flatteries, that store with which my tongue seemed never to be cloyed, have sunk me.” I.e. he never had an end to his flatteries and look where it’s landed him!
Sycophancy is obsequious flattery; a fawning behavior to trick someone into getting what you want; insincere flattery given to gain advantage from a superior. A sycophant is a servile self-seeking flatterer; a yes-man; a person who tries to win favor from wealthy or influential people by flattering them. These people are know for being full of crap. Fraud creates a culture in which all interaction is suspect. Flattery is basically lying and a lot of worthless words that mean nothing so therefore, it’s a form of fraud that hurts all of society because people lose all trust. There is no frank honesty, no truth.
Then my leader gave me advice:
“Extend your gaze a little farther ahead,
So that your eyes may fully observe the face
Of that disheveled strumpet who in the mire
Scratches her body, as she stands or squats,
With shit-rimmed fingers – she is Thais, the whore
Who, asked, ‘And is my favor with you great?’
Replied, “Enormous,’ to her paramour –
And let our sight be satisfied with that.”
According to Wikipedia, Thaïs was a famous Greek hetaera. A hetaera was a Greek companion, a paid prostitute. Thaïs was the lover of Ptolemy I Soter, one of Alexander’s generals. It has been suggested that she may also have been Alexander’s lover, before, during or after Alexander. Thaïs came from Athens and accompanied Alexander throughout his campaign in Asia Minor. After Alexander’s death Ptolemy became king of Egypt and married Thaïs, who bore three of his children.
In 330 BC Alexander defeated Achaemenid dynasty. At a drinking party of celebration afterwards, Thaïs gave a speech which convinced Alexander to burn the palace of Persepolis, the principal residence of the Achaemenid dynasty.
“When the king [Alexander] had caught fire at their words, all leaped up from their couches and passed the word along to form a victory procession in honour of Dionysus. Promptly many torches were gathered. Female musicians were present at the banquet, so the king led them all out for the comus to the sound of voices and flutes and pipes, Thaïs the courtesan leading the whole performance. She was the first, after the king, to hurl her blazing torch into the palace.” – Diodorus of Sicily (XVII.72)
Thaïs was never portrayed as Ptolemy’s queen, nor were her children treated as heirs to his throne. Ptolemy had other wives. Her life and death after this is unknown.
In Dante’s Inferno, the beautiful courtesan, Thaïs, with her honeyed words, is described now as that “disheveled strumpet who in the mire scratches her body, as she stands or squats, with shit-rimmed fingers – she is Thaïs the whore”. And Dante uses a sexually charged innuendo. She evidently received what she wanted from her “paramour” and he asked her if what she got was enough and she plays into the sexual innuendo by replying, “Enormous!”
Romans 16:18 (NIV) 18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.
Psalm 5:9-10 (NIV) 9 Not a word from their mouth can be trusted;
their heart is filled with malice.
Their throat is an open grave;
with their tongues they tell lies.
10 Declare them guilty, O God!
Let their intrigues be their downfall.
Banish them for their many sins,
for they have rebelled against you.
Flattery is dishonest when used to gain or control. Someone is playing into the target’s insecurities and uses flattery to trick them into trust. Flattery is based on selfishness, motivated by self. It’s not encouraging or being kind. It’s using words to get what you want. Flattery is insincere, deceitful, and strokes the sin of pride. The flattered is being manipulated into a sense of entitlement. They begin to believe the lies and behave accordingly. They believe the sycophant is their friend when it’s the opposite.
Today, there are far more ways flatterers use to get what they want. With social media, you don’t even have to have a physical meeting. Texting, sexting, emails, calls on burner cell phones are ways flatterers go after someone whom they want something from. Famous, rich and powerful people are targets for the sycophants. For instance, once a young man becomes a college football star, girls will fawn all over him trying to get his attention and have sex with him. They want that notch in their belt for reputation. Back in my day, a bad reputation was to be avoided but today girls seem to want the notoriety of having sex with popular guys. Once they leave college and go on to professional status, the flatterers become even more brazen. Now the football or basketball star has money, benefits, and star cred so the women become even more devious. Men fall for the lines all day long as long as it’s said by a pretty woman. It plays right into their pride and ego and they fall for it almost every time. They usually have to learn the hard way, if they ever learn it at all.
If you possess money, cars, jewelry, trips and other luxuries; if you have free drugs, alcohol, box tickets to the games and preferment at parties and clubs, then the professional player is a target for the sycophant, the flatterer, the groupie. And they will use what they can to get what they want. Let’s say a pro football player is happily married, but he texts with girls on Instagram. He’s just enjoying the attention. When he doesn’t follow up on his flirting, and the girl didn’t get what she wanted, she gets mad and sends a screenshot of their texts to his wife. Marriage over. It’s just that easy to ruin someone.
While some see flattery as an art of communication, they still have to admit it is motivated by self. No matter how good you are at it, the motivation is to manipulate others and get something out of it. If they don’t get what they want out of it, their anger is real and they will use blackmail or whatever tools at their disposal to destroy.
The one who is flattered can soon live in an unreal bubble. Everyone around you playing the sycophant to get what they want. You begin to believe it and live it. The flattered becomes absurdly demanding and spoiled, impossible to please and unable to live a normal life. Being surrounded by staff, business people, “friends” and family who play to your every need and agree with everything you say is enough to turn anyone’s head. It plays right into our pride. These people become almost body slaves to you. But you have to remember they are doing it to get something for themselves. Sometimes it’s money, sometimes it’s reputation, sometimes it’s basking in what’s left of your fame (i.e. others treat them better because of their relationship to you). Sometime’s it’s the power that comes from being your gatekeeper. Sometime it’s the hope of a future. Sometime’s it’s much more, they want to insure the rest of their lives on your dime. For instance, someone who is able to flatter you all the way to the marriage altar so they can get a large part of your income when the divorce happens. And it will happen.
Psalm 12 1 Help, O LORD, for the godly are fast disappearing!
The faithful have vanished from the earth!
2 Neighbors lie to each other,
speaking with flattering lips and deceitful hearts.
3 May the LORD cut off their flattering lips
and silence their boastful tongues.
4 They say, “We will lie to our hearts’ content.
Our lips are our own—who can stop us?”
5 The LORD replies, “I have seen violence done to the helpless,
and I have heard the groans of the poor.
Now I will rise up to rescue them,
as they have longed for me to do.”
6 The LORD’s promises are pure,
like silver refined in a furnace,
purified seven times over.
7 Therefore, LORD, we know you will protect the oppressed,
preserving them forever from this lying generation,
8 even though the wicked strut about,
and evil is praised throughout the land.
1 Thessalonians 2:4-6 (BSB) 4 Instead, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, not in order to please men but God, who examines our hearts. 5 As you know, we never used words of flattery or any pretext for greed. God is our witness! 6 Nor did we seek praise from you or from anyone else, although as apostles of Christ we had authority to demand it.
Jude 1:16 These men are discontented grumblers, following after their own lusts; their mouths spew arrogance; they flatter others for their own advantage.
Excerpts of Inferno are from a new translation by Robert Pinsky.
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