Inferno XIX Circle Eight (The Simoniacs)

This is the canto that Dante famously condemns Pope Nicholas III to damnation and hints that Boniface VIII will serve a similar fate. The sinners here have traded religious favors or positions for worldly riches. The sinners in this circle are stuck upside down so only their feet face flames.

• It is interesting that Longfellow and Sayers choose to reference “St John” for the English translation and Ciardi, Mandelbaum and Palma use the Italian version “San Giovanni”.
• In Canto 19. 52 each translator addresses Boniface’s transgression but each translator’s description paints a different picture and intensity of the sin. Palma’s is probably the closest to the financial wrong doing that Dante was accusing Boniface of but Sayers and Mandelbaum present a very emotional response