Here in the Fourth Ring of the Ninth Circle of Hell, at the utter bottom, Dante comes to the end of his hierarchy of sins and thus completes the catalogue of evil that dominates and defines Inferno. Although Inferno explores most explicitly the theme of divine retribution and justice, the poem’s unrelenting descriptions, categorizations, and analysis of sin makes human evil its fundamental subject. The positioning of fraud as the worst of sins helps us to define evil: fraud, more than any other crime, acts contrary to God’s greatest gift to mankind—love. A deed’s degree of wickedness thus depends on the degree to which it opposes love. So-called ordinary fraud only breaks the natural bonds of trust and love that form between men; other categories of fraud reach an even greater depth of evil because they break an additional bond of love. Of these, frauds against kin, country, and guests constitute the lighter end of the scale, for they violate only socially obligated bonds—our culture expects us to love our family and our homeland and to be a good host. But fraud against a benefactor constitutes the worst fraud of all, according to Dante, for it violates a love that is purely voluntary, a love that most resembles God’s love for us. Correspondingly, one who betrays one’s benefactor comes closest to betraying God directly. Thus, the ultimate sinner, Judas Iscariot, was a man who betrayed both simultaneously, for his benefactor was Jesus Christ.
The Western Literary Cannon tells you to hate Jim Norton.
6 comments
1 J-Bradley1 2019-06-24
"The traders to their benefactors"
So you mean, the ones that DON'T venerate the entrepreneur?
1 throwawizzlemahnizzl 2019-06-24
Nice Renaissance poet, stupid.
1 walt_jenkins_ 2019-06-24
It was the Middle Ages, actually.
1 throwawizzlemahnizzl 2019-06-24
Holy Joe you're right.
1 Kenn_Kennnerson 2019-06-24
This was actually an interesting post, so I say this without malice:
Nice "canon," stupid.
1 turk_january 2019-06-24
That line was a reference to the talented comedian/radio host Nick Cannon, who is also very critical of Jim.