Agathocles the Sicilian belongs in the Ninth and last
Circle of Dante's Inferno. Dante designated that level of hell for
the most loathsome of creatures. It was reserved for people like Agathocles who betrayed
his own country, kinsmen, and benefactors.
In The
Prince, Machiavelli pointed out Agathocles slaughtered senators from his
country in order to gain power and become prince. He wasn't motivated by the desire to
help his countryman; it was the allure of pure, unadulterated power that prompted him to
order his soldiers to kill all the senators and some of the most affluent commoners at a
meeting he called.
According to Machiavelli, Agathocles
rose from the lowest ranks of society to become King of
Syracuse.
“Son of a potter, through all the stages of his
fortunes he led a foul life. His vices, however, were conjoined with so great vigour
both of mind and body, that becoming a soldier, he rose through the various grades of
the service to be Praetor of Syracuse. Once established in that post, he resolved to
make himself Prince, and to hold by violence and without obligation to others the
authority which had been spontaneously entrusted to him. Accordingly, after imparting
his design to Hamilcar, who with the Carthaginian armies was at that time waging war in
Sicily, he one morning assembled the people and senate of Syracuse as though to consult
with them on matters of public moment, and on a preconcerted signal caused his soldiers
to put to death all the senators, and the wealthiest of the
commons.”
Machiavelli argues
Agathocles did not ascend from favor or fortune, but through the “regular steps of the
military service, gained at the cost of a thousand hardships and hazards, he reached the
princedom which he afterwards maintained by so many daring and dangerous enterprises.
Still, to slaughter fellow-citizens, to betray friends, to be devoid of honour, pity,
and religion, cannot be counted as merits...” Machiavelli concludes Agathocles was
characterized by “unbridled cruelty and inhumanity…[and] countless
crimes.”
In the first ring of the Ninth Circle, Dante meets
Camiscione dei Pazz, who killed a kinsmen to gain power. Pazz is doomed to the lowest
level, while Agathocles killed many more kinsmen and betrayed his people. Thus,
Agaothocles also garnered himself in the bowels of hell.
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