Commentary Par XXIX 124-126

See Tozer's gloss (DDP Tozer.Par.XXIX.124-126): '"[O]n this (credulity) St. Antony fattens his pig."  The hog which appears in pictures at the feet of St. Antony, the Egyptian hermit [ca. 250-355], represents the demon of sensuality which he conquered.  In the middle ages the swine of the monks of St. Antony were allowed to feed in the streets of cities, and were fed by devout persons (Jameson, Sacred and Legendary Art, pp. 750, 751); this is what Dante refers to.'  The obvious reversal in the values of the Antonines, who became the representatives of the vice that their founder had conquered, is apparent.