Commentary Inf XIX 28-30

This sole 'classical' simile in a canto that favors the rhetorical device of authorial apostrophe ([Inf XIX 1], [Inf XIX 10], [Inf XIX 115]) is muted in comparison with Dante's generally more developed similes of this type. For the oil referred to here as indicative, parodically, of the anointing unction that priests offer those who suffer, see Herzman and Stephany (Herz.1978.1), pp. 49-51. Unction is usually associated with the head, not the feet; the ironic point is clear.