Sapphira

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The name of Sapphira appears in Purgatorio XX, v. 112, within a series of ancient exempla that the penitent Hugh Capet intones to illustrate the virtue of liberality in contrast to the vice of avarice. The verse («Indi accusiam col marito Saffira») presents her alongside her husband in the framework of a traditional biblical condemnation linked to the sin of avarice. The husband alluded to is Ananias, as emerges from the account in the Acts of the Apostles recalled by the authorized note to canto XX of Purgatorio, where Sapphira is indicated as an accomplice of her husband. The note to canto XX places the couple among the cases of punished avarice that are added to the previous examples (Pygmalion, Midas, Achan), but does not specify a placement in Purgatorio: Sapphira is only mentioned in a rhetorical survey, she is not a soul present on the ledge.