Some thoughts on Dante and Justice

I am in the midst of Inferno this eve so pardon me, as I may wax poetic a fair bit in this post (Sayers Translation is a beautiful thing). It struck me as I was reading just how different our Western society has categorized Man’s crime and sin than the hierarchy Dante sets out which seemingly the greater the sin the greater the punishment. In Western Justice, probably the worst offence that one may commit is typically viewed as Murder; qualified as the worst by what most would consider the harshest punishment possible, death. However, in Dante’s hell, Murder is less severe than most other sins, including simony, usury and theft, which receive comparably light sentences in life. This part of this discrepancy could be due in part to the difference between life and death or between “crime” and “sin” because of the differing justices, which met out punishment. But with regard to active sin, fairly observable, describable and quantifiable by most men, punishment seems most out of balance. Should not the sin that is the most affront to God or your fellow man warrant the greatest punishment regardless of the sphere your soul currently dwells in?

It has been said that martyrdom is the easy way out for the persecuted one, at least among Christians. Much harder, most would say, is the continually persecuted life, in which one receives none of Paradises blessings, is the epitome of taking up your cross and following Christ. If that is the case, then is capitol punishment, which allows the criminal passage to the next life (what ever that may be for the individual) actually the easiest sentence as the individual is hastened to eternal judgment rather than having to bear the stigma of his crime for the rest of his terrestrial life? I would have to say “no” as to hasten ones reckoning with The Almighty is not a light punishment at all and could possibly preclude that souls salvation (though this ultimately rests in God’s hands) condemning not only the death of the body of the criminal, but the soul as well. Blessed it seems are the men who are granted reprieve from such a sentence that they have more time to recognize their folly. May they not be ignorant of such things and perpetuate their mistakes.

Continuing the question that ended the first paragraph, it seems that at least one differentiating characteristic between the justice administered in either sphere would be the objectivity with which such decisions could be rendered. This is a possible explanation for the absence of law with regards to the sins of incontinence, such as lust, gluttony, and wrath. The violent and malicious sins, seem to similarly, be based on objectification, as it is typically much easier to recognize a murder and murderer than it is to recognize pandering and the pimp and again easier to identify a pimp than a counselor of fraud. Thus the decreasing severity of the sentences could reflect the parallel lack of certifiable objectification.

Interestingly, the worst sin one can commit in Dante’s paradigm is that of Treason, either to kindred, country, guest or lord, hence Satan’s position at the very center along with Judas Iscariot as well as Cassius and Brutus. However, the sin of treason is rapidly loosing its place as a crime in our society due in large part to the recognition and acceptance of a self-centered value structure. However it seems that Treason could be the most easily recognized sin, but the twist comes in that if successful, the treasonous individual becomes the more authoritative source, inverting the value structure on which Justice is based and making it the most heinous of crimes or sins.