In Cantos XXI and XXII Dante and Virgil come across the barrators - those who have disrupted civic life though buying and selling public office.
We see one of the demons busily dispatching a barrator to his alloted fate:
On high hunched shoulders he was carrying
A wretched sinner, hoist by haunch and hip
Clutching each ankle by the sinew stringBridge Ho! he bawled, Our own Hellrakership
Here's an alderman of St Zita's coming down
Go souse him, while I make another tripFor more; they're barrators all in that good town
Except Bonturo, hey? - I've packed it stiff
With fellows who'd swear black is white for half a crown!XXI, 34-43
Readers may wonder why he places these kinds of folk further down than the simoniacs. The simoniacs, you remember, are those who bought and sold the "things of God"; sellers of religious office and sacraments. Why should the barrators be more offensive to God? In addition, in these two Cantos we see much more dialogue and banter among the demons who are set to guard and prod the damned.
On one level, the corruption of the church affects, well, only the church. But the corruption of civic life affects everyone. We should also remember that the vision of heaven is that of a city - the New Jerusalem. Civic life is the proper form of human community. What the barrators do is wreak havoc upon that most basic form of human community. The ancient Greeks had a definition of humanity - zoon logon politikon: the animal that speaks and lives in cities. So to wreak havoc upon civic life in the form of barratry is devasting to the very fabric of human community, even more so that wreaking having upon the church in the form of simony.
The punishment of the barrators is to be plunged under burning pitch. If they try to get out of it, a demon thrusts them back down. In the midst of all this, one of the souls decides to play a trick upon his demon overseers. The demons fall for the trick, having been outwitted by the clever barrator. As they realize they've been tricked, they start fighting among themselves. While Dante presents the episode with some humour, the message is clear: Satan's kingdom (the civic life of evil) is divided, and it falls into fighting and quarrelling. The demons, further enraged, fighting and floundering among themselves, are united in purpose again onoy when it dawns upon them to chase after Dante and Virgil, whom they chase all the way into Canto XXIII.
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.