43 A reference to the sixth circle of Dante’s Inferno, where the Heretics are punished. The Epicureans are among them because they pursued pleasure in life, believing that the soul would die with the body. The chastisement suggested to Mantegazza by the Indian place follows Dante’s law of the contrappasso, which in this case condemns the Epicure-ans to a punishment that is the opposite of their original sin [Editor].