Flattery

Flattery occupies a distinct place in Dante Alighieri's moral geography of Hell, punished in the Second Bolgia of the Eighth Circle, Malebolge, which houses the fraudulent and the malicious. The sin is defined by the deliberate use of excessive and insincere praise to gain favor or advantage, a corruption of language that Dante treats as a form of fraud. The punishment is a vivid instance of contrapasso, the law of symbolic retribution that governs all suffering in the Inferno: the flatterers, who in life coated their speech with a pleasing but false veneer, are now immersed in a foul ditch filled with human excrement, the physical embodiment of the filth their words truly were.

Location and Description of the Punishment

The Second Bolgia is a deep, narrow valley crossed by a stone bridge from which Dante and Virgil observe the sinners below. The ditch is so deep that from the bridge the bottom cannot be seen without ascending the arch's highest point. When they reach that vantage, Dante sees a people "smothered in a filth / That out of human privies seemed to flow" (E02632-E02633). The excrement is so thick that it covers the sinners entirely, and one figure is so foul that Dante cannot tell whether he is a cleric or a layman (E02635-E02636). The stench and the visual degradation are overwhelming, matching the moral degradation of the sin.

The Sinners and Their Confessions

Dante encounters two specific flatterers. The first, Alessio Interminei of Lucca, is recognized by Dante despite his filth-covered head. When Dante asks why he is singled out, Alessio replies, "The flatteries have submerged me here below, / Wherewith my tongue was never surfeited" (E02644-E02645). His confession reveals that flattery was a habitual vice, one he indulged without restraint. The second figure is Thais, the ancient Greek courtesan. Virgil points her out, describing her as "uncleanly and dishevelled" , scratching herself with filthy nails. He recounts her infamous reply to her lover's question, "Have I / Great gratitude from thee?"—to which she answered, "Nay, marvellous" (E02652-E02654). This exchange, drawn from classical literature, epitomizes the sycophantic exaggeration that defines flattery. Virgil's identification of Thais underscores the sin's timelessness and its condemnation across cultures.

Virgil's Classification of Flattery

In Canto XI, Virgil provides a systematic explanation of Hell's structure, placing flattery within the broader category of fraud. He explains that fraud is a sin against the bond of love that nature creates between people, and it is punished in the second of the two inner circles of Malebolge (E01626-E01627). Flattery is grouped with hypocrisy, magic, falsification, theft, simony, pandering, barratry, and "the like filth" (E01627-E01629). This classification emphasizes that flattery is not a minor failing but a deliberate corruption of human relationships, a perversion of the trust that should govern social interaction. The punishment's physical foulness mirrors the spiritual foulness of the sin, making the contrapasso both literal and symbolic.

Thematic Significance

Flattery in Dante's Hell represents a profound betrayal of truth and integrity. The flatterer uses language, the gift of reason that distinguishes humans from beasts, to deceive and manipulate. By coating falsehood in pleasing words, the flatterer undermines the very foundation of honest communication. The punishment in excrement reduces the flatterer to a state below the animals, wallowing in the waste of their own deceit. Dante's treatment of flattery reflects a broader concern in the Comedy with the proper use of language and the moral responsibility of speech. The sin is not merely a social annoyance but a serious offense against divine order, meriting eternal degradation in the filth that symbolizes the true nature of the flatterer's words.