Toynbee "Pluto"
name given by D. to the guardian of Circle IV of Hell, where the avaricious and Prodigal are punished, [Inf. vi. 115], [Inf. viii. 2]; il gran nemico, [Inf. vi. 115]; elli, [Inf. vii. 5]; enfiata labbia, [Inf. vii. 7]; maladetto lupo, [Inf. vii. 8]; fiera crudele, [Inf. vii. 15]. On leaving Circle III, D. and Virgil find P. placed on guard at the entrance to the next Circle ([Inf. vi. 112-115]); he cries out to them some unintelligible words, with the intention of frightening them back ([Inf. vii. 1-2]); but V., after encouraging D. not to fear, turns to P. and bids him be silent and consume his rage inwardly, as their journey is willed in Heaven ([Inf. vii. 3-12]); thereupon P. falls to the ground, and they descend into Circle IV ([Inf. vii. 13-16]). [Avari.]

It is uncertain whether D. intended Pluto to represent Pluto, otherwise called Hades, the god of the nether world, son of Cronus (Saturn) and Rhea, and brother of Zeus (Jupiter) and Poseidon (Neptune)--or Plutus, the god of wealth, son of Iasion and Demeter (Ceres). It is probable that he did not very clearly distinguish between the two, since even in classical times they were sometimes identified. The name Pluto is properly an epithet of Haedes (Hades), from Plouton (Plutus), 'wealth', because corn, the chief wealth of early times, was regarded as sent from beneath from Hades, as husband of Persephone, the daughter of Demeter; hence Pluto was identified with Plutus, and was also considered as the god of riches.

The old commentators mostly hold that Pluto is intended, at the same time connecting him with the idea of wealth; thus Pietro di Dante says:

Sicut in aliis circulis finxit auctor adesse et praeesse unum daemonem repraesentantem motum diabolicum ipsius vitii, ita fingit nunc se pro eo invenire Plutonem, quem poetae dicunt fuisse filium Saturni et Cybelis quae ponitur pro elemento terrae, et dicitur Dis seu Dites, eo quod divitiae in terra et ex terra nascuntur, et ab eis, seu propter eas, per consequens avaritia.

Similarly Benvenuto:

. . . nota quod Pluto apud omnes poetas dicitur rex Inferni, et ponitur pro elemento terrae; et quia ex terra nascitur omnis opulentia divitiarum ex quibus nascitur avaricia, ideo autor per Plutonem regem terrenarum et mundanarum diviciarum repraesentat in generali universale vicium avaritiae.

D.'s source may have been Cicero, {De nat. deorum ii. 268}.

D. applies to 'Pluto' the term 'accursed wolf' ([Inf. vii. 8]), in order to denote his connexion with avarice. For the form Pluto (representing Lat. Pluto), compare Iuno, [Par. xxviii. 32]; Conv. II. iv. 6; Scipio, [Par. xxvii. 61]; Scorpio, [Purg. xxv. 3]; Plato, [Purg. iii. 43]; Conv. II. iv. 7, Conv. II. xiii. 9, Conv. II. xiii. 10, etc.

The meaning of the mysterious words put into the mouth of Pluto by D. ([Inf. vii. 1]) has been discussed at great length, but with no really satisfactory result. The old commentators explain that Pape is an exclamation of surprise, that Satan is the name of the prince of the devils, that the repetition Pape Satàn, pape Satàn denotes the intensity of the surprise, and that aleppe stands for aleph, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, used either in the sense of 'prince', or as an expression of grief, the whole meaning that 'Pluto' is calling upon Satan for help in his perplexity; thus Benvenuto says:

Pluto videns hominem vivum in regno avariciae . . . non valens impedire ejus iter, miratur, dolet et implorat auxilium alterius. Quod miretur patet, quia dicit: pape, quod est adverbium mirantis. Quod doleat patet, cum dicit: aleph, quod est adverbium dolentis, cum vero dicit: sathan, implorat auxilium alterius, nam sathan interpretatur pnnceps daemoniorum. Dicit ergo: Aleph, sathan sathan, pape pape, idest, ah, ah, dyabole, dyabole! quale monstzm est istud quod vivus homo videatur in loco isto!

Monti, Scherillo, and others, take the words to be addressed by Pluto to D. and explain Satan in its Biblical sense of enemy'. [See GSLI, xxix (1897), 553; see also D. Guerri, Di alcuni versi dotti nella Divina Commedia (Città di Castello, 1908).]

Benvenuto Cellini's fanciful rendering of the words into 'Paix, paix, Satan, allez paix', and his story of the judge in the Paris law-courts who thus addressed some disorderly persons, are well known, his suggestion is ingenius, but his confident claim to have solved the riddle can hardly be admitted.

©Oxford University Press 1968. From A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante by Paget Toynbee (1968) by permission of Oxford University Press