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| Commentary Inf VI 115 |
Where Christ is the nimica podesta (hostile Power) who will oppress the damned at the Last Judgment ([Inf VI 96]), here the gran nemico (great foe) is Plutus, the classical god of wealth (and not Pluto, the classical god of the underworld). As we shall see, the hellish kingdom over which he presides contains the avaricious and the prodigal.
For the notion of the desire for riches as being a 'root sin' (along with Pride) in the Christian view of such things, see the frequently cited words of St. Paul, 'Radix malorum est cupiditas' (For the love of money is the root of all evil -- [I Timothy 6:10]).