The article revisits Inferno 26-27 from the perspective of the medieval pastoral debate on peccata linguae and focuses on the controversial phrase consiglio frodolente (Inf. 27.116). I begin my analysis by examining the notion of pravum consilium ‘evil counsel’ in two tracts on verbal sins: William Peraldus’ “De peccato linguae” (c. 1236) and Domenico Cavalca’s Il Pungilingua (1330-1342). In the second part of my essay, I analyze the figure of Ulysses in relationship to that of Guido da Montefeltro and argue that consiglio frodolente is not a misnomer for the sin of bolgia eight, as some commentators have contended. In the above-mentioned ethical tracts, the most salient feature of pravum consilium is its connection with fraud. In coining the phrase consiglio frodolente, Dante highlights this connection and renders this verbal sin perfectly consonant with the system of Malebolge. Cantos 26 and 27 of the Inferno mark a significant stage in the history of pravum consilium as a moral notion that situates itself at the intersection of speech, ethics, and politics.

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Baika, G. I., (2025), "Tongues of Fire and Fraud in Bolgia Eight", HSSCommons: (DOI: )

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1. Quaderni d'italianistica

Original publication: Baika, Gabriella Ildiko. "Tongues of Fire and Fraud in Bolgia Eight." Quaderni d'italianistica 32 (2): 2012. 5-26. DOI: 10.33137/q.i..v32i2.16306. This material has been re-published in an unmodified form on the Canadian HSS Commons with the permission of Iter Canada / Quaderni d'italianistica. Copyright © the author(s). Their work is distributed by Quaderni d'italianistica under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. For details, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.