Dante and Virgil continue their descent through the eighth circle of Malebolge in the Inferno. They observe sinners being punished for various sins including pimps, seducers, flatterers, simony, sorcery, and graft. Notable figures mentioned include Pope Nicholas III, Michael Scott, Guido Bonatti, and Vanni Fucci who prophesizes about the future of Florence before gesturing obscenely at God. The canto describes the gruesome and creative punishments fitting each sin as Dante and Virgil make their way to the next chasm.

1. Dante’s Inferno Canto XVIII-XXV

2. Canto XVIII 8th circle Malebolge

3. The eighth circle is divided into ten moats

4. In the first chasm, they see demons
whipping running spirits

5. These are the panderers (pimps) and
seducers

6. The spirit of Venedico de’ Caccianimico
speaks to Dante
He pimped his own sister, Ghisola.
His father Alberto was head of the Bolognese Guelphs.
He himself was a leading Guelph, exiled in 1289, and a
follower of Marquis Obizzo Il d’Este of Ferrara.
He is in the eighth circle, first chasm, of pimps, go-
betweens, and panders.

7. Whipped in the other direction are the
seducers

8. Here is Jason, who seduced and abandoned
both Hypsipyle and Medea

9. Hypsipyle had saved the Argonauts

10. And Medea had
made it possible for
Jason to capture the
golden fleece.

11. In the second ditch, they see spirits sunk in
excrement

12. These are the
flatterers

13. Alessio Interminei hails Dante

14. He points out Thais, who flattered her
lover

15. Canto XIX Circle 8, Chasm 3

16. Here are the simonists
Simon Magus
disputed with
St. Peter.

17. The simonists are inverted into rocky cracks;
their feet are in flames

18. The cracks remind Dante of baptismal fonts

20. Dante addresses one simonist whose legs are
writhing in particular agony

21. This simonist thinks Dante is Pope Boniface VIII,
come to push him deeper into the fissure

22. The man identifies himself as Pope
Nicholas III

23. Nicholas III
Nicholas III (1277-1280) 3 years He fixed his seat in the
Vatican and lived there most of the time. For that
purpose he had a palace built which was the early
nucleus of the Vatican buildings. He built also the
gardens and the famous "Passetto do Borgo.” He was
considered nepotistic and miserly.

25. Nicholas tells Dante that after Boniface will
come Clement

26. Dante speaks hotly against simony

27. Neither St. Peter nor St. Matthew, nor any
of the apostles, asked money for their
services

28. But Simon Magus fell straight to Hell

29. Dante speaks of the Revelations of St. John
the Divine

30. He compares corrupt
popes to the whore of
Babylon.

32. Dante traces the evil back to the donation of
Constantine and Pope Sylvester I

33. Pleased, Virgil carries Dante to the 4th
chasm

34. Canto XX: Circle 8, Chasm 4

35. Dante describes the seers and sorcerers

36. Their heads are on backwards, and their
tears flow to their butt cracks

37. When Dante weeps in pity, Virgil scolds him for
feeling for those who scorned God’s judgment

38. Virgil points
out
Amphiaraus

39. And Tiresias
The Theban seer. He spent seven years in the form of a woman after striking a pair
of coupling snakes. On striking them again he was changed back. He was
therefore called upon, by Jupiter, to judge an argument, between himself and
Juno, as to whether men or women get the most pleasure from lovemaking.
Deciding in favour of women, and so Jupiter, Juno struck him blind, Jupiter giving
him the power of prophecy to compensate for his blindness.

40. Aruns
The Etruscan seer who in
Lucan’s Pharsalia i 584-638
prophesied the Civil War in
Rome that ended in Julius
Caesar defeating Pompey
the Great.

41. And Manto, daughter of Tiresias

42. Though Virgil’s native
Mantua was named
for her, it was built
after her death,
without sorcery.

43. He points out Eurypylus, a seer in the Trojan war
"Now indeed I see how worthless the seers' doings are,
and how full of falsehood ... Why do we consult
prophets? We ought to sacrifice to the gods and ask a
blessing, but leave divination alone; for this was
invented otherwise, as a bait for a livelihood, and no
man grows rich by sacrifices if he is idle. But sound
judgment and discernment are the best of seers."
[Messenger. Euripides, Helen 745-755]

44. Michael Scott
Michael Scott of Balwearie (c1190-1250) studied at
Oxford, Paris and Toledo. He followed the Emperor
Frederick II to his court, though he died in Scotland. He
was a translator of Aristotle, and a famous astrologer.

45. Astrologer Guido Bonatti
The private astrologer to
Guido da Montefeltro. He
came from Forlì and was a
tiler by trade. He wrote Liber
Introductorius ad Judicia
Stellorum (c1170) and was
credited with aiding Guido’s
victory over the French
Papal forces at Forlì in 1282.

46. And finally, Asdente
A shoemaker of Parma.
Asdente, “the toothless,”
whose real name was
Benvenuto, practiced as a
soothsayer. He died c1284.

47. Virgil says they must hurry on

48. Canto XXI: Circle 8, Chasm 5

49. The next bolgia is full of boiling tar

50. Nothing can be seen but bubbles

51. Suddenly, a demon carrying a sinner runs
up

53. The sinner is thrown
into the pitch, while
other demons jab at
him.

54. These are the grafters, who used positions
of public trust to make money

55. Dante hides in fear

60. Virgil scolds the demons and demands an
escort

61. Malacoda provides the escort

62. One demon makes a trumpet of his butt

63. Canto XXII: Circle 8, Chasm 5

64. Escorted by ten
demons, Dante
observes sinners arching
above the boiling pitch,
then quickly sinking.

65. Dante asks Virgil to speak to one of the sinners
who was hanging on a demon’s pitchfork

66. The sinner is Ciampolo
He sold favors
while in the
employ of
Theobaldo II, who
was Count of
Champagne and
King of Navarre.

68. As demons tear at him, Ciampolo names
other Italians who are in the tar
• Friar Gomita
• Don Michel Zanche

70. Ciampolo breaks free of the demons

72. The demons quarreled, and the poets
moved on

73. Canto XXIII: Circle 8, Chasm 6

74. Fearing their escort, the poets run and
slide to the next bank themselves

75. Below them, they see hooded figures
circling slowly

76. Their monkish robes are golden on the outside,
but lined with heavy lead

77. These are the hypocrites

78. Two spirits approach Dante
They are Catalano
and Lederingo,
members of the
“Jovial Friars,” who
were supposed to
protect the weak,
but misused their
positions.

79. Dante notices a spirit pinned to the ground

80. It is Caiphas

81. Caiphas convinced the Romans to crucify
Christ

83. Caiphas was supported by his father-in-law
Annas

86. The friars tell Virgil that there is a way out
without summoning the demons
Virgil is angry, but the
hypocrites remind
him that Satan is the
father of lies.

87. Canto XXIV: Circle 8, Chasm 7

88. After an exhausting climb, the poets reach
chasm seven

89. Dante sees masses of snakes

90. The snakes encircled thieves

91. A serpent bites a sinner, who bursts into
flame, burns to ashes, and is then painfully
reconstituted

92. Virgil asks the man his name, it is Vanni
Fucci

93. When Dante, who knew Vanni, asks about his
crime, Vanni turns to him, saying he robbed a
church

94. Fucci then prophesizes the future of
Florence

95. Canto XXV: Circle 8, Chasm 7

96. At the end of his speech, Fucci aims an
obscene fig gesture at God

99. Dante sees Cacus, part dragon and part
man

100. Cacus, a centaur, stole Hercules’ cattle

101. Cacus runs off

102. Three spirits appear. One a serpent,
attacks another

103. Dante describes the double
transformations of Cianfa Donati and
Brunelleschi Agnello

106. And in detail, the exchange between
Francesco de Cavalcanti and Buoso