Editing Cerberus (section)

==Cerberus allegorized==
[[File:Inferno Canto 6 lines 24-26.jpg|thumb|left|Virgil feeding Cerberus earth in the Third Circle of Hell. Illustration from Dante's ''Inferno'' by [[Gustave Doré]].]]

[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], a medieval commentator on [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'', derived Cerberus' name from the Greek word ''creoboros'' meaning "flesh-devouring" (see above), and held that Cerberus symbolized the corpse-consuming earth, with Heracles' triumph over Cerberus representing his victory over earthly desires.<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] on [[Virgil]], ''Aeneid'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053%3Abook%3D6%3Acommline%3D395 6.395]; Ogden 2013a, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA190 p. 190]. For others who followed Servius in interpreting Cerberus as symbolizing the corruption of flesh, in both the literal and moral senses, see Brumble, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6KygKVV5l7YC&pg=PA68 pp. 68–69].</ref> Later, the mythographer [[Fabius Planciades Fulgentius|Fulgentius]], allegorizes Cerberus' three heads as representing the three origins of human strife: "nature, cause, and accident", and (drawing on the same flesh-devouring etymology as Servius) as symbolizing "the three ages—infancy, youth, old age, at which death enters the world."<ref>[[Fabius Planciades Fulgentius|Fulgentius]], ''Mythologies'' 1.6 (Whitbread, [https://books.google.com/books?id=73mJIuYfmzEC&pg=PA51 pp. 51–52]); Ogden 2013a, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA190 p. 190].</ref> The Byzantine historian and bishop [[Eusebius]] wrote that Cerberus was represented with three heads, because the positions of the sun above the earth are three—rising, midday, and setting.<ref>[[Eusebius]], ''[[Praeparatio evangelica|Preparation of the Gospels]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/230#3.11.16 3.11.16].</ref>

The later [[Vatican Mythographers]] repeat and expand upon the traditions of Servius and Fulgentius. All three Vatican Mythographers repeat Servius' derivation of Cerberus' name from ''creoboros''.<ref>[[First Vatican Mythographer]], 1.57 (Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA73 pp. 73–74]; Pepin, p. 36); [[Second Vatican Mythographer]], 173 (Pepin, p. 171); [[Third Vatican Mythographer]], 13.4 (Pepin, [https://books.google.com/books?id=sE7WnkLLt2gC&pg=PA324 p. 324]).</ref> The Second Vatican Mythographer repeats (nearly word for word) what Fulgentius had to say about Cerberus,<ref>[[Second Vatican Mythographer]], 13 (Pepin, p. 106).</ref> while the Third Vatican Mythographer, in another very similar passage to Fugentius', says (more specifically than Fugentius), that for "the philosophers" Cerberus represented hatred, his three heads symbolizing the three kinds of human hatred: natural, causal, and casual (i.e. accidental).<ref>[[Third Vatican Mythographer]] 6.22 (Pepin, p. 171).</ref>

The Second and Third Vatican Mythographers, note that the three brothers Zeus, Poseidon and Hades each have tripartite insignia, associating Hades' three-headed Cerberus, with [[Zeus]]' three-forked thunderbolt, and [[Poseidon]]'s three-pronged trident, while the Third Vatican Mythographer adds that "some philosophers think of Cerberus as the tripartite earth: Asia, Africa, and Europe. This earth, swallowing up bodies, sends souls to Tartarus."<ref>[[Second Vatican Mythographer]], 13 (Pepin, p. 106); [[Third Vatican Mythographer]] 6.22 (Pepin, p. 171). For others who associated Cerberus' three heads with the three continents see Brumble, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6KygKVV5l7YC&pg=PA69 p. 69].</ref>

Virgil described Cerberus as "ravenous" (''fame rabida''),<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Verg.+A.+6.421 6.421].</ref> and a rapacious Cerberus became proverbial. Thus Cerberus came to symbolize avarice,<ref>Wilson-Okamura, [https://books.google.com/books?id=5PaUAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA169 p. 169]; Brumble, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6KygKVV5l7YC&pg=PA69 p. 69].</ref> and so, for example, in [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]]'s ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]],'' Cerberus is placed in the [[Third Circle of Hell]], guarding over the gluttons, where he "rends the spirits, flays and quarters them,"<ref>[[Dante]], ''Inferno'' [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Divine_Comedy/Inferno/Canto_VI 6.13–18]</ref> and Dante (perhaps echoing Servius' association of Cerberus with earth) has his guide Virgil take up handfuls of earth and throw them into Cerberus' "rapacious gullets."<ref>[[Dante]], ''Inferno'' [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Divine_Comedy/Inferno/Canto_VI 6.25–27]; Lansing, [https://books.google.com/books?id=CY-sAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA154 p. 154].</ref>