“Simonists” by Gustave Doré (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/gallery10.html)
In Canto 19, Dante and Virgil arrive in the Third Bolgia of the Eighth Circle. The sinners there are Simoniacs, corrupt clergy who bought or sold sacred heavenly services for money. From the very start of the Canto, Dante immediately angrily criticizes the Simoniacs saying, “You who the things of God, that should be brides of goodness, rapaciously adulterate for gold and for silver.” (Canto 19, Lines 1-4).
Canto 19 solidifies just how important God means to Dante the writer and Dante the pilgrim. The canto also displays how strongly Dante feels towards those who are disloyal and disrespectful to God. Dante, the pilgrim, does not feel sympathy nor pity for the Simoniacs as he has felt for sinners in previous Cantos. Instead, he feels content with their punishment. Dante tells Pope Nicholas, “Therefore stay here, for you deserve your punishment.” (97). He continues and states, “You have made gold and silver your god.” (112). Dante’s tone throughout Canto 19 is pure rage and intensity against those who chose money as their god and therefore did not worship the right God. His hatred for the Simoniacs shows how passionate and how serious God means to him. Dante finds that those who did not take God seriously deserve eternal punishment. Dante adds, “And were it not that I am forbidden by my reverence for the highest keys, which you held in happy life, I would use still heavier words” (100-103), meaning that Dante’s respect for the papacy is keeping him from insulting the Simoniacs even more. Virgil is pleased with Dante’s angry speech towards the Simoniacs. As Virgil was proud of Dante in his interaction in Canto 15 with Brunetto Latini, the pilgrim again believes his leader is pleased “with such a contented smile he listened” (120).
As shown in the Gustave Doré artwork, God has punished the Simoniacs by stuffing their greedy heads and bodies into holes in the ground with their legs and feet hanging out. In Doré’s work Dante seems to be speaking to Pope Nicholas and if you zoom closely into Dante he has a facial expression of disgust and revulsion. Dante compares the holes in the ground to “places for the baptizers” (17). It is compelling that the sinners are stuffed into the ground head first as oppose to their body first like during a baptism. I think this punishment for Simoniacs fits with the unorthodox and sacrilegious decisions they made during their lives.
