Virgil and Dante are in the eighth circle of Hell called Malebolge (evil ditches). Within this circle are ten bolgias (pouches, ditches, ravines, moats). Here Fraud is punished and different types of fraud are punished in each bolgia. They were looking into the ninth bolgia where the Sowers of Discord and Scandal are punished. They are about to leave the ninth bolgia and go to the tenth bolgia where the Falsifiers are punished.
Before leaving the 9th bolgia, Virgil prompts Dante to move along. He reprimands Dante for staring. He rebukes him as though Dante were fascinated by the macabre, as being ghoulish and morbid. Everyone knows when something bad happens, those who are fascinated come out to stare. But Dante tells Virgil he wasn’t just staring for staring’s sake but because he thought he saw someone from his own family down there amongst the sowers of discord and scandal.
Of time I gazed so steadily just now,
I think a spirit of my own blood laments
The guilt that brings so great a cost below.”
The master answered, “Let your intelligence
Distract itself with thoughts of him no more.
Attend to other things, while he remains
Down where he is, below the bridge – for there
I saw him with his finger point you out
And fiercely threaten you. And I could hear
Them call him Geri del Bello. So complete
Was your preoccupation with the one
Who once held Altaforte, you never set
Your eyes in his direction till he was gone.”
And “O my guide,” I said, “his violent death,
For which as yet no vengeance has been done
By any of those he shares dishonor with,
Is what has made him full of indignation –
And that is why he continued on his path
Without addressing me, and with this action
He makes my pity for him greater yet.”
So we continued in our conversation,
Geri del Bello Alighieri was a distant relative of Dante Alighieri. Son of Bello and cousin of Alighiero II, Dante’s father. He was tried in absentia in Prato for brawling and beatings in 1280. Geri sowed discord between members of the Sacchetti family. Dante’s children, in the commentary on his father’s work, indicated how a member of the Sacchetti family (a certain Brodaio Sacchetti) was responsible for his murder in 1271 and he was not avenged until around 1310, with the feud continuing until 1342.
Although Dante tells Virgil he was looking for his cousin, Geri del Bello, Virgil brushes him off by saying his grief must not be too sincere. He missed talking to Geri because he was so engrossed with Bertran de Born, “so complete was your preoccupation with the one who once held Altaforte”. Virgil tells Dante he saw Geri and Geri was pointing at Dante in anger and threatening him. Dante replies Geri is mad because his murder by the Sachettis hasn’t been avenged.
In those times, the Italian family felt shared shame and disgrace that led to blood feuds and vendettas.
“An exceptionally harsh word for shame, onta, has a more public frame of reference than shame and shades into ‘dishonor’. Because of the connection to dishonor, the idea of onta links easily to vendetta. Thus, onta is linked with that which needs to be avenged in the Hoepli on-line dictionary, where we find this usage: ‘avenge one’s dishonor’.
The feeling of onta is socially constructed, connected to political and social disgrace and misfortune. In his philosophical treatise, Convivio, Dante talks of the disgrace – ‘infamia‘ – of Boethius’ exile and of his own exile from Florence (Convivio 1.2.13 and 1.2.15). Dante uses the word onta for the disgraced White party in Inferno 6 , where the Bianchi weep and feel ashamed – feel onta – as a result of their treatment at the hands of the Neri. Here Dante uses the verb aonto: ‘come che di this or che n’aonti‘ (However much they weep or feel ashamed [Inf. 6.72]).
The culture of onta and its consequence, vendetta, was strong in Dante’s time and place.” – DigitalDante.columbia.edu
The family takes offense as a result of onta. Dante, the poet, is presenting the circle of family feuds. It’s neverending. An offense leads to shame which leads to a desire for revenge which leads to anger which leads to injuring the other family. And the circle begins again. This kind of blood revenge was considered a right protected by law, a life for a life. It involved male honor and male codes of behavior that ran through the feudal, honor-based society of his times.
Dante has already addressed a similar situation with the Amidei family and Buondelmonte in the last canto. The vendettas and blood feuds going back and forth never ends and brought civic instability and wars. Dante is facing just such a situation in his own family. His cousin was murdered but his death has not been avenged by the family. Dante, the pilgrim, through Dante, the poet, expresses to Virgil his understanding why Geri del Bello is angry with him. But Geri del Bello is in the bolgia of the schismatics for a reason. He wasn’t innocent. And Dante, the poet, has refused to step into the circle of violence himself. Using godly wisdom, Dante rejects Geri’s dishonor and defines honor for himself. He rejects the culture of vendetta. He understands it but doesn’t endorse and participate in it. He has made the choice to let it go because the results are adding sin and evil on top of a bad situation. Forgiving and letting go is more healthy and honorable and gives God the responsibility of making something good of the situation. God knows the person and everyone involved, along with all the variables and complexities. And God has the power. So it is best left in God’s hands to work out for the best. Dante pities Geri because he was caught up in all that hate, anger and revenge and look where it landed him! “His violent death, for which as yet no vengeance has been done by any of those he shares dishonor with, is what has made him full of indignation… he makes my pity for him greater still.”
Romans 12:17-21 (ESV) Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans 12:19 (ESV) Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
1 Peter 3:9 (ESV) Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.
1 Thessalonians 5:15 (ESV) See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.
Mark 11:25 (ESV) And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
Walking the ridge until we reached the spot
Where the next valley could first be seen below –
Down to the bottom had there been more light
Up above Malebolge’s last cloister now
Where we could see its lay-brothers under us,
Their strange laments beset me, each an arrow
Whose shaft was barbed with pity – and at this,
I lifted up my hands and blocked my ears.
The suffering was such, if one could place
All of the sick who endure disease’s course
In Val di Chiana’s hospital from July
All through September, and all the sufferers
In Maremma and Sardinia, to lie
All in one ditch together, so was this place;
From it a stench, like that which usually
Is given off by festering limbs, arose.
There are four categories of falsifiers punished here: Alchemists, impersonators, counterfeiters, and liars. The punishment on these sinners is not inflicted by a demon. Here, the body and mind turns on itself. “The sinners here are suffering from systemic infection within themselves.” – Cliffsnotes.com
Dante describes the sounds of the laments as so loud and pitiable that he had to cover his ears. And the odor emanating from the pit was horrifically “like that which usually is given off by festering limbs”. Valdichiana, Maremma, and Sardinia are swampy areas in the Tuscan region of Italy that were once known as major breeding grounds for mosquitos and thus the diseases that accompany them. Through the summer months, the hospitals were overrun with malaria and fever patients. He goes on to say that the pit was full of people lying in their misery. He compares it to Ovid’s story of a plague on the island of Aegina where every human and animal died down to the worms. Only the ants lived.
All through that murky valley, how a horde
Of shades lay languishing in scattered heaps:
One lay upon his belly, another poured
Across his neighbor’s shoulders, or perhaps
Moved on all fours along the dismal track.
In silence, walking with deliberate steps,
We went on, watching and listening to the sick,
Who could not raise their bodies. I could see
Two who were sitting propped up back to back,
As pan is leaned against pan to warm them dry,
Each of them spotted with scabs from head to foot
And I have never seen a stableboy
Who knows that he is making his master wait,
Or one unhappy to be still awake,
Work with a currycomb at such a rate
As each of these was laboring to rake
His nails all over himself – scratching and digging
For the great fury of the itch they tried to slake,
Which has no other relief: their nails were snagging
Scabs from the skin as a knifeblade might remove
Scales from a carp, or as if the knife were dragging
Still larger scales some other fish might have.
Dante uses three earthy comparisons here:
- Pans on a stove, back to back, sharing their heat to dry quicker.
- A stable boy currying a horse very quickly with the currying brush so as not to keep his master waiting or in order to get to bed quicker.
- A cook’s helper who cleans fish with the filleting knife.
Not only are they feverishly ill and festering, but they are itching and scratching so hard as to flay their skin and pull off scabs.
Virgil goes on to ask if the two are from Italy. He tells them he is escorting Dante, the pilgrim, through Hell. This gets their attention, and the attention of others nearby. Dante asks them who they are and what is their story.
“I was of Arezzo,” one answered, “and died by fire
At Albero of Siena’s orders, and yet
That which I died for is not what brought me here.
The truth is that I told him, speaking in jest,
That I knew how to lift myself through air,
In flight: he, curious, but not much blessed
with wit, asked me to train him in that skill;
I failed to make him Daedulus – which sufficed
For him to have me burned: the sentence fell
On me from one who held him as a son.
But alchemy, which I plied in the world so well,
Is why I was doomed to this last ditch of ten
By Minos, who cannot err in his decrees.”
I asked the poet, “Has there ever been
Another people as vain as the Sienese?
Certainly not the French themselves, by far.”
The other leprous one, at hearing this,
Responded, “Some, you’ll grant exceptions for:
Stricca, who knew how to spend in moderation,
And Niccolo, who was a progenitor
Of the costly cult of cloves – a fine tradition
For the rich garden where such seeds take root.
And let that company also be an exception
Where Caccia d’Asciano freely spent out
His vineyard and his forest, and where the one
They nicknamed Muddlehead displayed his wit.
But so you know who seconds you in this vein
Against the Sienese, come sharpen your gaze
In my direction, where you may well discern
The answer given to you by my face:
I am Capocchio’s shade – the counterfeiter
Of metals by alchemy; if I trust my eyes,
You recall how good I was at aping nature.”
Grifolino d’Arezzo – Griffolino was known for cheating Albero of Siena, “curious, but not much blessed with wit”, by promising to teach him to fly like Daedulus (see Canto 17). “I failed to make him Daedalus” so he was burned at the stake by Albero’s father (or friend), the Bishop of Siena, “the sentence fell on me from one who held him as a son”. He was actually not burned at the stake for his sin of alchemy, in which Dante finds him here, but for being caught in a joke that humiliated Albero of Siena.
In Canto 20, I gave a definition for alchemy and alchemists and Bible verses addressing things like this. I discussed how these people tried to go beyond the limits set by God. To have what they want without God. Bypassing God.
Alchemy – medieval forerunner of chemistry; an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and proto-scientific tradition practiced throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia, originating in Greco-Roman Egypt in the first few centuries AD. Alchemists tried to purify, mature and perfect certain materials. Many “alchemists” tried to turn a base metal into gold or silver such as lead or tin. Some tried to find a way to immortality, youthfulness (the so-called “fountain of youth”), or cures. Alchemists tried to discover new ways to exploit nature as God had given it. They thought they could find ways to do what only God can do. If they could find the secret ways, then they could bypass God altogether. They could reach perfection, immortality, riches, and strength without God. It can be seen as early chemistry and medicine but also charlatanism. Some didn’t see it that way, they saw themselves as finding secrets of God to make them more like God intended and wanted them to be. These were “mystics” and “spiritualists” who indulged in some heresy with the justification of “getting closer to God” and being more “spiritual”. The base of it was really to become like God, to be God, and thus bypassing the one true God to embrace things only God can give. Heresy.
The alchemists were obsessed with secrecy for several reasons. They wanted the end results for themselves and to control who would benefit. Let’s face it, if we could turn base metal into gold, gold would become worthless as it would be so plentiful. That defeats the purpose. If they could discover the way to immortality and gave it to everyone, the earth would soon become overpopulated and where do you go when there is no more room on earth? If you found a cure for disease, what would happen to the medical profession that makes it’s money on disease? This selfishness, greed, pride and desire to control are the base sins built on the desire to be God. An alchemist might want to live forever but they don’t necessarily want YOU to live forever, at least unless they get something in return for it. They would soon be overwhelmed with human beings wanting to live forever. Sort of like when a ship goes down and there is only 1 lifeboat. All those swimming and drowning in the water want in the lifeboat. In their desperation they will collapse the lifeboat meaning no one is saved from the sinking ship.
This magic and alchemy were used as instruments of fraud.
At the end of this canto, at the mention of Siena, Dante, the pilgrim, comments on the vanity of the Sienese. The “brigata spendereccia” (Spendthrift Club) was a social group of rich Sienese youth, who were notorious at the time for their reckless, intemperate, gluttonous, drunken, hedonistic waste of money. They were squanderers whose lose morals caused fights and damaged property during their revelries. Their money came from trade and commerce and funded their leisure, parties and excesses. It led to their undisciplined ways, vanity, frivolity, destruction. As they destroyed, so now they are destroyed.
“whose extravagances are recorded by Benvenuto da Imola. This club consisted of ‘twelve very rich young gentlemen, who took it into their heads to do things that would make a great part of the world wonder.’ Accordingly each contributed eighteen thousand golden florins to a common fund, amounting in all to two hundred and sixteen thousand florins. They built a palace, in which each member had a splendid chamber, and they gave sumptuous dinners and suppers; ending their banquets sometimes by throwing all the dishes, table-ornaments, and knives of gold and silver out of the window. “This silly institution,” continues Benvenuto, ‘lasted only ten months, the treasury being exhausted, and the wretched members became the fable and laughingstock of all the world.’” – WyomingCatholic.edu
It is not known who Stricca is exactly. He may have been Stricca di Giovanni dei Salimbeni of Siena (brother of Niccolo, [Inf. xxix. 127]) who was podestà of Bologna in 1276 and again in 1286. Or he may have belonged to the Tolomei family, others say to the Marescotti. The only thing we know is what Dante tells us here through Capocchio, he was an exception in the Spendthrift Club because he used moderation in his spending.
Niccolò, may have been Niccolò Bonsignori (a brother of Stricca, mentioned three lines earlier) or possibly Niccolò dei Salimbeni, a well-known alchemist. This Niccolò is said to have invented a luxurious use for the expensive clove. He introduced the use of the exotic cloves to Siena, and he used to set a bed of cloves on fire and roast pheasants over them or stuffing pheasants with cloves.
Caccia d’Asciano was of the Sienese Cacciaconti family. He squandered all his possessions including the vineyards, farms (fonda stands for plowed land, unlike the vineyards) and forests his family owned near Asciano, in the Sienese area.
“Abbagliato means ‘dazed’ and is probably a nickname like our ‘muddle-head.’ He is thought by some to be Folgore da San Gemignano, the poet of the Club, to which he is believed to have addressed a set of Sonnets in which he sings the pleasures of each month of the changing year. This would account for the reference to his wit: the other members gave their wealth; he being a poor man could contribute nothing but his wit, his poetic gift, of which obviously Dante had a poorer opinion than the young rakes for whom he sang. This ‘Abbagliato’ is, however, usually identified with another member of the Club, Bartolommeo de’ Folcacchieri, ‘a man of small means but of good abilities, which, however, he entirely sacrificed from keeping company with so dissipated a set of spendthrifts'”. – John S. Carroll (1904)
The one speaking to Dante in such an ironic manner is Cappocchio. The members of the Spendthrift Club are being made fun of but they are not in this bolgia with Cappochio. Capocchio was a school friend of Dante’s who was burned at the stake for alchemy in 1293. He was good at mimicking others, aping, which led to his aping nature with alchemy. Cappochio demands Dante to look in his eyes, “come sharpen your gaze in my direction”. He wants Dante to focus on him. His pride is still intact. “I am Capocchio’s shade – the counterfeiter of metals by alchemy; if I trust my eyes, you recall how good I was at aping nature.” As with all the sinners, they go into eternity without any repentance or remorse. Despite their very obvious place in eternal misery and all the suffering they undergo, they still see themselves as captains of their own lives. By demanding attention and credit for his sin, Capocchio speaks in a self-satisfying tone appropriate for his sin of being vain enough to consider himself at or beyond the level of God.
Psalm 10:4 (ESV) In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”
1 John 2:15-17 (ESV) Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
Excerpts from Dante’s Inferno are from a new translation by Robert Pinsky.
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