Graffiacane

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Graffiacane is one of the ten devils belonging to the squad led by Malebranche, charged with escorting the two poets along the eighth ditch, the ditch of the barrators, in Canto XXI of the Inferno. His name is pronounced in sequence with those of the other devils, among them Ciriatto, Alichino, and Calcabrina, during the roll call that precedes the crossing of the boiling pitch. The visual element of the name merges with the phonic element of the whole, creating an effect of aggressive arrogance typical of Dante's comic interlude. Graffiacane is counted among the popular, good-natured, and non-tragic devils assigned by Dante to a ditch that is expressly comic. The name is of Dante's own coining, part of a whimsical and varied series of names, except for the first, Alichino, which derives from Old French.