Malebranche (Divine Comedy)
Encyclopedia
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
s in the Inferno
Inferno (Dante)
Inferno is the first part of Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso. It is an allegory telling of the journey of Dante through what is largely the medieval concept of Hell, guided by the Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as...
of Dante
Dante Alighieri
Durante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...
's Divine Comedy who guard Bolgia Five of the Eighth Circle (Malebolge
Malebolge
In Dante Alighieri's Inferno, part of the Divine Comedy, Malebolge is the eighth circle of Hell. Roughly translated from Italian, Malebolge means "evil ditches". Malebolge is a large, funnel-shaped cavern, itself divided into ten concentric circular trenches or ditches. Each trench is called a bolgia...
). They figure in Canto
Canto
The canto is a principal form of division in a long poem, especially the epic. The word comes from Italian, meaning "song" or singing. Famous examples of epic poetry which employ the canto division are Lord Byron's Don Juan, Valmiki's Ramayana , Dante's The Divine Comedy , and Ezra Pound's The...
s XXI, XXII, and XXIII. Vulgar and quarrelsome, their duty is to force the corrupt politicians (barrators
Barratry
Barratry is the name of four legal concepts, three in criminal and civil law, and one in admiralty law.* Barratry, in criminal and civil law, is the act or practice of bringing repeated legal actions solely to harass...
) to stay under the surface of a boiling lake of pitch
Pitch (resin)
Pitch is the name for any of a number of viscoelastic, solid polymers. Pitch can be made from petroleum products or plants. Petroleum-derived pitch is also called bitumen. Pitch produced from plants is also known as resin. Products made from plant resin are also known as rosin.Pitch was...
.
In the Divine Comedy
When Dante and VirgilVirgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
meet them, the leader of the Malebranche, Malacoda
Malacoda
Malacoda is a character in Dante Alighieri's Inferno, part of the Divine Comedy. He is the leader of the Malebranche, the nine demons who guard Bolgia Five of Malebolge, the eighth circle of Hell. The name Malacoda is roughly equivalent to "bad tail" or "evil tail" in Italian...
("Evil Tail"), assigns a troop to escort the poets safely to the next bridge, many of the bridges were destroyed in the earthquake that happened at the death of Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
, which Malacoda describes, enabling the time this takes place to be calculated. The troop hook and torment one of the barrators (identified by early commentators as Ciampolo
Ciampolo
Ciampolo is the accepted name of a character in Dante's Divine Comedy.Ciampolo appears in Canto XXII of the Inferno, where he is a grafter in the fifth ditch of the eighth circle...
), who names some Italian grafters and then tricks the Malebranche in order to escape back into the pitch. The demons are dishonest and malicious: the promise of safe conduct the poets have received turns out to have limited value (and there is no "next bridge"), so that Dante and Virgil are forced to escape from them.
Within the Inferno, the demons provide some moments of satirical black comedy. There are twelve Malebranche named in the poem:
- AlichinoAlichino (devil)Alichino is one of the devils in the Inferno of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Alichino is member of the Malebranche, whose mission is to guard Bolgia Five in the Eighth Circle, the Malebolge. Alichino's name is commonly regarded as a garbled version of the Italian word for harlequin, Arlecchino,...
(derived from Arlecchino, the harlequinHarlequinHarlequin or Arlecchino in Italian, Arlequin in French, and Arlequín in Spanish is the most popularly known of the zanni or comic servant characters from the Italian Commedia dell'arte and its descendant, the Harlequinade.-Origins:...
) - BarbaricciaBarbaricciaBarbariccia is one of the demons in the Inferno of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Barbariccia is member of the Malebranche, whose mission is to guard Bolgia Five in the Eighth Circle, the Malebolge. Barbariccia's name means "curly beard" in Italian . It is possible that Dante also alludes to a...
("Curly Beard") - Cagnazzo ("Nasty Dog")
- Calcabrina (possibly "Grace Stomper")
- Ciriatto ("Wild Hog")
- Draghignazzo ("Big Nasty Dragon")
- Farfarello (possibly "Goblin")
- Graffiacane ("Dog Scratcher")
- Libicocco (possibly "Libyan Hothead")
- MalacodaMalacodaMalacoda is a character in Dante Alighieri's Inferno, part of the Divine Comedy. He is the leader of the Malebranche, the nine demons who guard Bolgia Five of Malebolge, the eighth circle of Hell. The name Malacoda is roughly equivalent to "bad tail" or "evil tail" in Italian...
, the leader ("Evil Tail") - Rubicante (possibly "Red-faced Terror")
- ScarmiglioneScarmiglioneScarmiglione is one of the twelve named Malebranche in the 8th Circle of Hell's 5th Gulf, where corrupt politicians are immersed in burning pitch, the Malebolge, from the Inferno of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy.-In popular culture:*Final Fantasy...
(possibly "Trouble Maker")
The last of these, for example, is introduced by Dante in lines 100–105 of Canto XXI:
"They bent their hooks and shouted to each other:
And shall I give it to him on the rump?
And all of them replied, Yes, let him have it!
But Malacoda, still in conversation
with my good guide, turned quickly to his squadron
and said: Be still, Scarmiglione, still!"
It is common among commentators on the Inferno to interpret these names as garbled versions of the names of officials contemporary to Dante. For example, Barbariccia may suggest the Ricci family of Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, or the Barbarasi of Cremona
Cremona
Cremona is a city and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po River in the middle of the Pianura Padana . It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local City and Province governments...
.
See also
- List of cultural references in The Divine Comedy
- Malebranche in the Italian Wikipedia
External links
- Dante's meeting with them at Wikisource, canto XXI and XXII.