“There is no dignity in wickedness, whether in purple or rags; and hell is a democracy of devils, where all are equals.” –Herman Melville
Successful politicians in the upcoming midterm elections (whether veteran or neophyte) could potentially enter “Dante’s Inferno” if they allow themselves to be absorbed into the prevailing system. While hell is often referred to as a state of the soul following death, it can also be a view of one who has been exiled and has learned not to trust the world’s values.
These individuals are the thieves and would-be thieves. Locally, there are those involved in the Pavia housing lot and, nationally, the people involved in the “pork barrel” plunder scheme – former Senators Ramon ‘Bong’ Revilla, Jr. Jinggoy Estrada, and Juan Ponce Enrile. The three are expected to enrich themselves while in public office with many also trying to recoup their campaign expenses.
These types of politicians believe reelection validates crimes.
‘Dante’s Inferno’
Dante’s Inferno is a vision of the “City of Man” in the afterlife, which is why it contains no glimmer of forgiveness. However, it can also be thought of a radical representation of the world we live in, stripped of all hope – thieves see no sign of Christian forgiveness in Dante’s Inferno.
The dominant theme is not mercy but justice, dispensed through the severity of the ancient “law of retribution.” Every reader of Dante’s Inferno is amazed by the frights, obscenities, filth, and unpalatable nature of a vision in which expletives are often the central act of perception and suffering is the central spectacle of desire.
Sinners—the lustful, gluttonous, and treacherous—are caught forever; politicians must remind themselves of that. In the passage set in the Eight Circle, serpents surround and tear at thieves, who catch fire, burn, and are then reconstituted, like the phoenix. However, when they are reborn, they only suffer again.
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In Robert Pinsky’s “The Inferno of Dante: A New Verse Translation,” the treatment of thieves is described in Canto XXIV, 91-120: “Among this cruel and depressing swarm, ran people who were naked, terrified, with no hope of a hole or heliotrophe. Their hands were tied behind by serpents; these had thrust their head and tail right through the loins, and then were knotted on the other side. And—there!—a serpent sprang with force at one who stood upon our shore, transfixing him just where the neck and shoulders form a knot. No o or i has ever been transcribed so quickly as that soul caught fire and burned and, as he fell, completely turned to ashes; and when he lay, undone, upon the ground. The dust of him collected by itself and instantly returned to what it was: Just so, it is asserted by great sages, that, when it reaches its five-hundredth year. The phoenix dies and is reborn again; lifelong it never feeds on grass or grain, only on drops of incense or amomum; Its final winding sheets are nard and myrrh. And just as he who falls, and knows not how—by demon’s force that drags him to the ground or by some other hindrance that binds man—who, when he rises, stares about him, all bewildered by the heavy anguish he has suffered, sighing as he looks around; so did this sinner stare when he arose. Oh, how severe it is, the power of God That, as its vengeance, showers down such blows!”
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Alex P. Vidal, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo./WDJ