Canto XI

Dante asked Virgil why the spirits of the first circles were not punished in Dis, since God was angry with them. Virgil answered that if he had read his Ethics, he would know that of the three faults which offend Heaven, incontinence, malice, and mad bestiality, incontinence was the least serious. The sins of incontinence, then ­ lust, gluttony, avarice, wrath... ­ were not as severely punished as the others.

Dante then asked why usury was so serious a sin. Virgil again referred to Aristotle, and said that usurers followed neither nature nor art, the acceptable ways of making a living. He then said that they should move on. From this questioning we can infer that Dantye wasn't in complete agreement as to the seriousness of certain sins as opposed to others.