CANTOS XVII. 79XVIII Bolgia II. Leaving the first bridge, Dante and Virgil ascend the second. The Moat beneath is so deep that in order to see it at all they have to stand on the very top of the arch-an indication of the deep and subtle Flatterers. nature of the sin of Flattery which is here punished. Gazing down into the darkness, they see the souls of Flatterers half-smothered in loathsome filth. One wretch has his head so covered with the foulness that it is not clear whether he is clerk or layman, but Dante recognizes him as one whom he had seen before 'with his hair dry.' It is Alessio Interminei (or Interminelli) of Lucca, of whom we know nothing but that he belonged to the party of the Whites, and that a document of 1295 mentions him as alive in that year. The older commentators say that he would besmear even the lowest menials with flattery. Virgil points out a soul from the ancient world, Thais, once a beautiful courtesan, but now an 'uncleanly and dishevelled drab,' scratching herself with filthy nails and restlessly standing and crouching by turns. In reality she is only a fictitious character in Terence's Eunuchus. Dante doubtless got the reference from Cicero's De Amicitia, where it is given as an example of flattery. At first glance, it seems a very innocent example. Her lover had sent her the present of a slave, and when he asked, 'Have I great thanks from thee?' she replied, 'Nay, marvellous!' According to Dante, following Cicero, it is in this exaggeration of gratitude that her flattery consisted. It seems a small thing, but doubtless Dante had specially before his mind 'the strange woman' of S CANTOS XVII. 79XVIII Punishment- Proverbs-'the stranger which flattereth with her words': 'With her much fair speech she causeth him to yield, With the flattering of her lips she forceth him away. For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil: But her latter end is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, Her steps take hold on hell.’ It is to be noticed that this is the only place in which Dante describes two sins in the same Canto, and probably this is not accidental. Pandering and Flattery,' as Vernon says, 'are two species of Fraud which have a good deal of affinity for one another. Every Pander is a Flatterer, though indeed every Flatterer need not necessarily be a Pander.'1 The punishment is almost too vile for refined ears. From the loathsome canal an exhalation rose and settled on the margin in a mouldy scum which 'waged war with eyes and nostrils.' In this foul element, the wretched souls are beating themselves with their hands and 'snorting with their muzzles' like dogs. The use of the word 'muzzles' is intentional: these Fatterers are dogs which were in the habit of licking every foul thing, the worst sins and vices of the men on whom they fawned, and now they have such vileness to their hearts' content. As, dog-like, they fawned and lived on filth here, their 1 Vernon's Readings, ii. 58. eternal doom is to be plunged in that which was on earth their life and element.1 1 According to Aquinas, Flattery is a mortal sin, because it is contrary to charity in three ways: (1) 'In virtue of the matter praised, when one praises another's sin'-thus encouraging him in evil; (2) 'In virtue of the intention of him who praises, when one flatters another in order fraudulently to hurt him either in body or in soul'; (3) 'In virtue of the occasion given, when the flatterer's praise becomes to the other an occasion of sin, even beside the intention of the flatterer' (Summa, ii-ii. q. cxv. a. 2). CANTOS XVII. 79XVIII Bolgia III.- CHAPTER XVII CIRCLE VIII.-MALEBOLGE: THE FRAUDULENT Bolgia III. Simoniacs CANTO XIX TURNING away from the Moat of the Flatterers, Dante and his Guide find themselves on the rocky ridge which overlooks the third valley of this Circle. The first words of the Canto tell us what sin is here punished: Simon Magus. O Simon Magus! O wretched followers! For silver and for gold do prostitute, Now it behoves for you the trumpet sound,— the trumpet, namely, of his exposure of them in this Canto. It is the sin of Simony, which takes its name from Simon Magus in the Acts of the Apostles, who thought he could buy from St. Peter the power of imparting the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands.1 It includes every form of trafficking in holy things, and in particular the ordination of unworthy men to holy offices 'for value received.' These holy things ought to be, in Dante's phrase, 'the brides of holiness,' that is, bestowed freely and lawfully on good and worthy men; whereas Simoniacs prostitute' them by driving a vile trade 1 Acts viii. 14-24. in them with whoever will pay the price. This CANTO XIX price, of course, is not necessarily cash; it may be kinship, friendship, favouritism, support, services rendered or expected. According to Aquinas, there are three reasons why spiritual things are not fit subjects of barter. First, because a spiritual thing cannot have its equivalent in any earthly price. . . . Secondly, because that cannot be due matter of sale, of which the seller is not the owner. Thirdly, because selling is inconsistent with the origin of spiritual things, which proceed from the gratuitous will of God.' As we shall see, Simony corresponds to Barratry, the sin punished in the fifth Moat: Simony is trafficking in offices of the Church, Barratry in offices of the State. · .. Looking down from the rocky bridge, Dante sees The Wells in that the 'livid stone' of which the valley below is the Rock. made is perforated with small circular openings like wells. They are very numerous, filling the bottom and both sides, in indication of the prevalence of the sin. For size he compares them to the little stone-pulpits in 'my beautiful St. John'-the Baptistery at Florence-in which the priests stood when administering baptism. In Dante's day the baptismal font seems to have consisted of a central cistern for water, surrounded at a little distance by a low wall or parapet, at the corners of which were little circular openings, inside of which stood the officiating priests. It is said that this arrangement was necessary because, since baptisms took place only on certain special days, there was usually a 1 Summa, ii-ii. q. c. a. 1. |