Commentary Inf XVII 55-57

The usurers, rendered unrecognizable by the burning (and by the degrading nature of their sin, which is a sin against God's 'grandchild,' industry, yet is also a sin against His child, nature, because it makes money 'copulate') have their only identity in the coats-of-arms that they have hanging from their necks, fastened loose enough so that they themselves can see them. Their identities are made known to an observer by these devices, but they would rather seem to be gazing on their 'real' selves, the money that used to fill their purses, than on their escutcheons.