In canto 15 Dante and Virgil enter the third and last circle of the seventh hell where the heretics, sodomites, and usurers are punished for their violence against God. In this place Dante meets a familiar figure, his mentor Brunetto Latini who is placed in this hell for his acts of sodomy. In the notes of this canto it is said the Brunetto was burned in real life as punishment for the act of sodomy “Brunetto (whose name means “dark”) is burned over his whole body; in some Italian cities (though not Florence), burning was a frequent civil penalty for sodomy ” (27) this shows just how severe the crime of sodomy was even though sodomy is just one part of the sin of lust. In Dante’s version of hell the actual sin of lust is placed only on the second circle of hell which shows that he views it as one of the least offensive sins out there, but then he goes and puts sodomy at the end of the seventh circle of hell, a drastic difference from the treatment of lust . At this time period most people viewed the act of non-procreating sexual intercourse as an affront to God himself as he designed nature in a way were the path humans are supposed to follow is the path of procreation. The act of sodomy strays off the path that nature has created for humans, therefore those who commit sodomy are going against not only nature but the creator of nature himself God and that makes sodomy an severe offensive sin.

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