The Four Types of Falsification
The Roman legal source of Dante's four kinds of falsifiers in Inferno 29 and 30.
Dante’s taxonomy of falsifiers—alchemists, counterfeiters, impersonators, and perjurers—comes from Roman criminal law, especially the sections on falsum (fraudulent falsification) in the Digest and Code of Justinian. Medieval jurists (Accursius, Bartolus, etc.) preserved and elaborated these categories, and Dante adopts them almost exactly as they appear in legal commentaries of his time.
1. Alchemists (Falsifiers of Substances)
Dante’s category: Those who corrupt or falsify the substance of things (e.g., metals)
Roman legal source
- Digest 48.10 (“De falsis”) — defines falsum broadly as any act that corrupts or alters the true substance of something.
- Medieval glossators explicitly include alchemists under falsum because they “counterfeit” metals.
Dante’s adaptation: He moralizes the legal category: falsifying nature itself becomes a sin of fraud against the created order.
2. Counterfeiters (Falsifiers of Money)
Dante’s category: Those who falsify coinage or currency
Roman legal source
- Digest 48.10.7 — criminalizes the forging or adulteration of coinage.
- Codex 9.24 (“De falsariis monetæ”) — treats coin-counterfeiting as a major offense against the state.
Dante’s adaptation: He follows Roman law exactly: counterfeiting is a form of falsum that harms the public trust and the common good.
3. Impersonators (Falsifiers of Identity)
Dante’s category: Those who falsify the identity of persons—fraudulent impersonators.
Roman legal source
- Digest 48.10.22 — includes “falsifying the person” (falsum personae) as a punishable offense.
- Medieval jurists expand this to include fraudulent impersonation for gain.
Dante’s adaptation: He turns legal impersonation into a moral category: falsifying one’s identity is a lie against the social order.
4. Perjurers (Falsifiers of Words / Testimony)
Dante’s category: Those who falsify speech—lying under oath, false testimony
Roman legal source
- Digest 48.10.1–3 — treats false testimony as a form of falsum.
- Codex 9.22 (“De falsis testimoniis”) — condemns perjury as a serious crime.
Dante’s adaptation: Perjury becomes the gravest form of verbal falsification, aligning with Dante’s moral hierarchy of fraud.
Why Roman Law Is the Source (and not classical poets)
Virgil, Ovid, and Lucan do not provide a taxonomy of falsification.
They contain stories of deceit, but no structured legal or moral classification resembling Dante’s fourfold scheme.
Roman law, however, does.
The legal category falsum was subdivided into:
- falsification of substances
- falsification of money
- falsification of persons
- falsification of testimony
This is exactly Dante’s structure in Inferno 29–30.
Medieval jurists made this taxonomy standard.
Dante, living in a legal culture shaped by Bologna’s law schools, would have known these categories intimately.
| Type of Falsification | Canto Location | Roman Legal Source | Medieval Transmission | Dante’s Adaptation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alchemists | Canto 29 | Digest 48.10 (De falsis) | Glossators classify alchemy as falsum | Corrupting nature = fraud against creation |
| Counterfeiters | Canto 30 | Digest 48.10.7; Codex 9.24 | Treated as major civic crime | Harm to public trust and common good |
| Impersonators | Canto 30 | Digest 48.10.22 | Expanded to fraudulent identity theft | Lie against social order |
| Perjurers | Canto 30 | Digest 48.10.1–3; Codex 9.22 | Perjury central to legal falsum | Gravest verbal falsification |
Does Aquinas teach a four-fold classification of falsification?
Aquinas does not list Dante’s four categories of falsifiers. But he does teach a four-fold division of falsity in the Summa Theologiae that aligns with Dante’s moral logic and likely influenced his thinking.
Where Aquinas discusses falsification
Aquinas treats falsification under lying, fraud, and injustice, especially in:
- ST II–II, q.110 (On Lying)
- ST II–II, q.77–78 (On Fraud and Deception in Trade)
- ST II–II, q.63 (On Theft and Robbery)
- ST II–II, q.120 (On Craftiness)
- ST II–II, q.123–127 (On Perjury and False Witness)
From these discussions, Aquinas articulates four distinct ways falsity can occur, which medieval jurists and theologians often treated as a unified schema.
Aquinas’s Four Ways of Falsity (Summa II–II)
| Aquinas’s Category | Where in the Summa | Description | Correspondence to Dante |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Falsification of Things | q.77–78 (fraud in goods), q.63 (theft) | Altering or corrupting the substance or quality of a thing (e.g., adulterating goods, corrupting materials). | Alchemists (falsifying substances) |
| 2. Falsification of Money | q.77–78 (fraud in trade), q.63 | Deceiving through unjust weights, measures, or currency. | Counterfeiters |
| 3. Falsification of Persons | q.110 (lying), q.120 (craftiness), q.63 | Deceiving about one’s identity or status; impersonation; simulation. | Impersonators |
| 4. Falsification of Speech / Testimony | q.110 (lying), q.122–127 (perjury, false witness) | Lying under oath, false testimony, corrupting judicial truth. | Perjurers |
Dante’s Four Falsifiers & Roman Law (Digest 48.10 “De Falsis”)
| Dante’s Category of Falsification | Roman Legal Passage (Corpus Iuris Civilis) | Legal Definition of Falsum | Sinners in Inferno 29–30 | Notes on Dante’s Adaptation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Falsifiers of Substances (Alchemists) | Digest 48.10.8; 48.10.9 — penalties for corrupting or adulterating materials; altering the substance of goods. | Falsum includes corrupting the substance of things (e.g., adulterating metals, materials). | Griffolino d’Arezzo (Canto 29) — burned for fraudulent alchemy; Capocchio (Canto 29) — “ape of nature,” imitator of substances. | Dante moralizes Roman law: falsifying nature becomes a sin against creation itself. |
| 2. Falsifiers of Money (Counterfeiters) | Digest 48.10.7 — forging or adulterating coinage; Codex 9.24 (“De falsariis monetæ”). | Counterfeiting currency is a major crime against the state and public trust. | Master Adam of Brescia (Canto 30) — counterfeited Florentine florins; punished with dropsy. | Dante follows Roman law exactly: counterfeiting harms the commune and the moral fabric of society. |
| 3. Falsifiers of Persons (Impersonators) | Digest 48.10.22 — falsum personae: assuming another’s identity; fraudulent impersonation. | Falsifying identity for gain is a punishable form of falsum. | Gianni Schicchi (Canto 30) — impersonated Buoso Donati to dictate a false will; Myrrha (Canto 30) — disguised herself to commit incest. | Dante expands the legal category to include mythic impersonation (Myrrha) as moral falsification of personhood. |
| 4. Falsifiers of Words (Perjurers / False Witnesses) | Digest 48.10.1–3 — false testimony; Codex 9.22 (“De falsis testimoniis”). | Perjury is the gravest verbal falsification; corrupts judicial truth. | Sinon the Greek (Canto 30) — false witness who deceived the Trojans; Potiphar’s Wife (Canto 30) — biblical false accuser. | Dante uses classical and biblical examples to embody the legal category of corrupting testimony. |