In the thirteenth canto of “Purgatorio” in Dante’s Divine Comedy, the fourteenth-century Italian poet describes the ultimate punishment of people who had fallen prey to envy during their lives. He shows them perched precariously on the edge of a cliff. Because envy started with what they saw, their eyes are wired shut. To avoid falling, they must support themselves upon one another, something they never did in life.[25] This is a pretty grim punishment.
