It is important to first note that Dante's Inferno is a book dedicated to giving sinners an appropriate punishment. Depending on the sin, they receive a harsh or moderate punishment. In Circle IV Dante and Virgil come upon the prodigal and the avaricious. There punishment is to roll weights in opposite directions forming a semicircle until they crash. This torturous task will go on infinitely for those who in the first life hoarded or spent carelessly. This punishment is just, mainly because it forces the sinners to endure infinitely in a life where neither the avaricious nor the prodigals can be happy. The harshest part of this punishment is that it forces the avaricious to be with the people they hate the most, their counterpart. Likewise, the prodigals, who are used to spending endless fortunes, must now share a Circle in hell with people who don't spend anything other than what is absolutely necessary.
Virgil describes the punishment that they are undergoing in the following way:
"Here, more than elsewhere, I saw multitudes to every side of me; their howls were loud while, wheeling weights, they used their chests to push. They struck against each other; at that point, each turned around and, wheeling back those weights..." Canto VIII Lines 25-29 (pg. 59)
The punishment is perfect, it neither leaves them in condition of eternal pain, nor does it allow them to live a comfortable life.
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