“Lo, the fierce monster with the pointed tail, who crosses mountains, storms the strongest fort, lo, that which makes the whole world stink of hell!”
. . . . .
The 8th circle of hell - fraud... Geryon, the monster, lands on the brink of the abyss, his tail hanging over the side. Geryon's face is that of an innocent man, but his body is half-reptile, half hairy beast, with a scorpion's stinger at the end of his tail. In Canto XVII, the monster Geryon symbolizes Fraud: the sin of the souls in Circle VIII. Furthermore, like Fraud, his innocent face fools the onlooker long enough to be stung by his scorpion-like tail. Dante the Poet places these sinners in dire circumstances, and tells none of their names, hiding them from Earth, making sure that none were remembered. The faces of the Usurers lack individuality because their concern with money made them lose their individuality. However, the signs and symbols on the sinner's purses indicate their families. In this canto, the Usurers are described as dogs in summer, and their very nature and description is disgusting. The power of the language increases as the poem goes on, which Dante illustrates in later cantos.