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Line 47: − + − + − + − Then they descend to the eighth circle, which is home to those guilty of different forms of minor fraud:+ − * Seducers − * Flatterers − * Simonists − * Soothsayers − * Stirring up Lawsuits − * Hypocrites − * Thieves − * Evil Counselors − * Sunderers − * Liars − + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
→The seventh circle: Violence: More on lower Hell.
The seventh circle is split into three regions, where different forms of violence are punished:
The seventh circle is split into three regions, where different forms of violence are punished:
* Violence against others, including tyranny.
* Violence against others, including tyranny, is punished in Phlegethon, the river of fire. This river runs right round the outer edge of the seventh circle and then down towards the center of the pit.
* Violence against oneself, ie suicides and wanton spendthrifts
* Violence against oneself. On the inner bank of Phlegethon is a wood, where the trees turn out to be suicides who have been condemned to give up their human form. Wanton spendthrifts are also punished here, pursued through the wood by beasts.
* Violence against [[God]] or nature, including blasphemers, usurers and homosexuals.
* Violence against [[God]] or nature. This category includes blasphemers, [[Usury|usurers]] and [[homosexuals]]. All are punished in a desert of unbearable heat where fire rains from the sky.
The only way to cross the desert is to walk along the dykes that guide the river Phlegethon towards the center of Hell. Beyond the desert, this river flows down a sheer drop into the eighth circle.
The ninth and lowest circle, situated at the center of the earth, is set aside for traitors. In the ultimate depths of this circle, the travelers come upon [[Satan]] and the three worst human offenders:
===The eighth circle: Fraud===
The eighth circle is home to those guilty of different forms of [[fraud]]:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Fraudulent crime
! Punishment
|-
| Seduction
| Forced marching and whipping
|-
| Flattery
| Buried in filth
|-
| Simony (selling holy offices for profit)
| Stuck in wells and set on fire
|-
| Sorcery and soothsaying
| Heads twisted backwards
|-
| Stirring up lawsuits
| Immersed in boiling tar
|-
| Hypocrisy
| Crushed under lead cloaks
|-
| Theft
| Turned into lizards
|-
| Evil counsel
| Fire
|-
| Sundering
| Mutilated by demons
|-
| Lying and forgery
| Disease
|}
These crimes are known as minor fraud, as distinct from treachery (see below), which is considered a worse form of fraud.
===The ninth circle: Treachery===
The ninth and lowest circle, situated at the bottom of a deep well leading down to the center of the earth, is set aside for traitors. The circle takes the form of a frozen lake called Cocytus, and the traitors are frozen into the ice. Some have their heads free, while others are completely covered, according to the severity of their treachery.
In the ultimate depths of this circle, the travelers come upon [[Satan]] and the three worst human offenders:
* [[Judas Iscariot]]
* [[Judas Iscariot]]
* [[Brutus]]
* [[Brutus]]
* [[Cassius]]
* [[Cassius]]
Satan is depicted as a three-headed, winged demon of immense size, yet at the same time he is a pathetic figure: he is unable to move except to beat his wings ineffectually, and he cries constantly. The three worst traitors are punished by being chewed by Satan himself, and Judas, as the worst of all, is also lacerated by Satan's claws.
In Dante’s time, [[Julius Caesar]] was honored as the first emperor of Rome, and Rome brought the ‘[[Pax Romana]]’. <ref> [[The Divine Comedy]], By Dante Alighieri, Translated by Charles Singleton, Bollingen Series 80, Vol 1: Inferno. Copyright 1970 by Princeton University Press. </ref>
In Dante’s time, [[Julius Caesar]] was honored as the first emperor of Rome, and Rome brought the ‘[[Pax Romana]]’. <ref> [[The Divine Comedy]], By Dante Alighieri, Translated by Charles Singleton, Bollingen Series 80, Vol 1: Inferno. Copyright 1970 by Princeton University Press. </ref>