Go to Hell: Four Traitors in the Inferno

Charlie Welch
Dr. Edward Jones

Go to Hell! What a terrible place to wish someone to go, especially if the underworld is
anything like the Inferno described by Dante in The Divine Comedy. The phrase, heard often in
modern society, may desensitize people to the actual experience of going to hell that Dante
creates for his readers in his poem. Designed like a corkscrew, Dantes Inferno is organized into
9 circles. Each circle is classified by the sin of its inhabitants (Circle 3 contains gluttons and
Circle 9 contains the treacherous). Throughout the quest, the pilgrim meets numerous shades
or souls that he converses with in order to learn how they ended up in Hell. The design of Circle
9 and inhabitants is especially noteworthy as it addresses Dante's personal feelings of betrayal in
his own life. Which, led him to hold treachery as the most evil sin, reserved for the four greatest
arch-traitors of early history: Brutus and Cassius, Judas Iscariot, and of course, Lucifer. The four
spend eternity suffering for their acts of high treason, pointing out Dantes suffering may have
resulted from being banished from his beloved Florence.
Of course, the most central arch-traitor in Inferno is Satan himself. Dis, Beelzebub,
Lucifer, and Satan are all names that Dante used when talking about the fallen one. Once a
beautiful angel, Dante described Satan as a mix between his former self and his new eternal
figure. Dis was as ugly in hell as he was beautiful in heaven; his three mouths chew on his fellow
arch-traitor inhabitants and with six eyes did he weep, and down three chins trickled the teardrops and the bloody drivel (Canto 34, pg. 233). He rose from his mid-breast forth issued from
the ice, and better with a giant [Dante compares] than do the giants with those arms of his;
consider now how great must be that whole (Canto 34, pg. 232). His sails of the seatwo
mighty wingsno feathers had they, but as of a bat generated wind and kept lake Cocytus
wholly congealed (Canto 34, pg. 233). Lucifers three faces, one red, whitish-yellow, and black,

represent a perverse trinitythe Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Canto 34, pg. 233). The three
mouths chewed on Judas, Brutus, and Cassius, another sacrilegious trinity.
The design of Dantes Satan also involves gravity. Satan stood in the center of the
universe. As the pilgrim and his guide Virgil continued their journey through hell, they climbed
down Satans leg through Cocytus. As they climbed down to where the thigh revolves exactly
on the thickness of the haunch, [Virgil] with labour and with hard-drawn breath, turned round his
head where he had had his legs, and grappled to the hair, as one who mounts, so that to Hell I
thought we were returning (Canto 34, pg. 234). Gravity switched as Dante and Virgil climbed
Satan past the center of the Earth, so Satans legs appeared upside down. Additionally, Satan
resided at the center of gravity because he led an angel rebellion against God and was promptly
removed from Heaven and banished into Hell (Isaiah 14:12-15).
In addition to Dis, Brutus and Cassius also resided in the 9th circle. Eaten eternally by two
of Lucifers three mouthsBrutus in the black mouth and Cassius in whitish-yellow mouth
Brutus and Cassius were stuffed feet first into each mouth and writhed around in pain but spoke
no sound (Canto 34, pg. 233). They were punished in the 9th circle for their successful
assassination of Julius Caesar, who was the father of the Roman Empire. Brutus and Cassius met
their end on Earth after killing themselves in 42 B.C. Seemingly, Dante placed these two sinners
in the 9th circle as secular complements to Judas and his betrayal of Jesus, the Christian Savior.
The fourth arch-traitor in the central 9th circle was Judas Iscariot. Judas was being
gnawed on headfirst by Satans central, red mouth while the clawing, for sometimes the spine
[was] utterly stripped of all the skin remained (Canto 34, pg. 233). While the punishment
seemed obscene, Dante architected the punishment as seemingly fitting the crime. Judas, one of
Jesuss twelve apostles, strikes a deal to give up Jesus to the Roman authorities for thirty pieces

of silver (Matthew 14:15). He identifies Jesus by kissing him (Matthew 14:48). The act was the
ultimate act of treason; betraying the Messiah. Being chewed on by the central mouth of Satan
identifies Judas to be the greatest traitor of the three former human shades. Dante seemingly
likens the treachery he received being banished from Florence to Christ being betrayed by Judas;
another reason why Dante may have put Judas as the sinner in Satans central mouth. Ultimately,
the four arch-traitors suffered punishments deliberately designed to fit their crimes against
Caesar, Jesus, and God.
According to Dante, the four greatest arch-traitors in history receive punishment in Hells
lowest level: Circle 9. Satan was frozen in the Lake Cocytus for eternity and Judas, Brutus, and
Cassius were eternally gnawed on by Lucifers three faces. In the way Dante designed Hell in
Inferno, he seemingly designated treachery as the greatest sin in an attempt to accept his own
banishment. By punishing historys greatest treacherous people and Satan, he subliminally
punished the traitors that banished him from Florence. In other words, this is Dantes way of
telling his traitors to Go to Hell!

Works Cited

Alighieri, Dante. Divine Comedy - Inferno. Trans. Henry W. Longsfellow. Comp. Josef Nygrin.
N.p.: n.p., n.d. Paskvil.com. Josef Nygrin, 2008. Web. 1 Mar. 2015.

Isaiah. Biblegateway.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2015.

Matthew. Biblegateway.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2015.