Dante, Inferno
The Inverted Pits of Simony
The inhabitants are hidden in the rock except for their legs, whose soles burn as flame moves from heel to toe. Virgil carries Dante down to question the figure whose feet move most violently. The speaker says that earlier occupants lie beneath him and that a successor will force him farther down. The arrangement turns a sequence of corrupt officeholders into a vertical succession within a single opening.
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In the sources
The encounter
LiteraryThe inhabitants are hidden in the rock except for their legs, whose soles burn as flame moves from heel to toe. Virgil carries Dante down to question the figure whose feet move most violently.
Further detail
LiteraryThe speaker says that earlier occupants lie beneath him and that a successor will force him farther down. The arrangement turns a sequence of corrupt officeholders into a vertical succession within a single opening.
Context & interpretation
This entry follows the supplied Thompson & Thomas edition of H. F. Cary’s translation. It describes Dante’s literary vision, distinguishing its assignments and reported claims from historical biography, other classical traditions and independently established accounts of an afterlife.
Original passages
Source 1
Dante's Inferno
The soles were burning ; whence the flexile joints Glanced with such violent motion, as had snapt Asunder cords or twisted withes. As flame, Feeding onOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Dante’s Inferno, Cary translation; active reader leaf 132
Passage read in the exact edition’s extracted canto text; whitespace-normalised anchor and original-leaf mapping checked. Associated plates separately inspected.
- Edition
- IMJ-0082-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0082-E001-P0132
- Original scan leaf
- 139
- Recorded leaf number
- 139
- Current Reader position
- 132
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Dante's Inferno
predecessors in the guilt Of simony. Stretch'd at their length, they lie Along an opening in the rock. 'Midst them I also iow shall fall, soonOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Dante’s Inferno, Cary translation; active reader leaf 133
Passage read in the exact edition’s extracted canto text; whitespace-normalised anchor and original-leaf mapping checked. Associated plates separately inspected.
- Edition
- IMJ-0082-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0082-E001-P0133
- Original scan leaf
- 140
- Recorded leaf number
- 140
- Current Reader position
- 133
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Illustrations
Continue exploring
Mistaken for Boniface
An inverted speaker mistakes Dante’s arrival for that of a future condemned pope.
Same subject and traditionAcheron in Dante’s Journey
The river where the arriving dead assemble for Charon’s crossing.
Same subject and traditionAntenora, the Second Frozen Round
The part of the ice where the encounter with Bocca leads to accusations of betrayal.
Same subject and traditionCaina, the First Frozen Round
The first division of the frozen circle, introduced through entangled family figures.