Aristotle condemns those who are ruled by desire and suffer from wantonness. He argues one should desire to abstain from bodily desires and that higher forms of pleasure are concomitant with habitual virtuous action. Concupiscence involves ignoring ones reason and giving in to ones emotion, which is precisely what incontinence involves and is what Aristotle condemns. This aligns closely to Dante's second circle (for those condemned for lust), where Semiramis resides, for she was "so broken to the vice of lust that in her laws she made licit whatever pleased, to lift from herself the blame she had incurred " (Canto V, 55). This epitomizes Dante's condemnation of those who capitulate to their emotion over reason with regard to sexual desires: Semiramis was so vulnerable to her sexual desires that she ignored all laws and was unable to regulate her desires. Both Dante and Aristotle condemn those who are ruled by desire.
Aristotle posits that overindulgence is antithetical to notions of moderation. The virtuous person is moderate and since gluttony is a fundamentally immoderate habit, gluttony would thus be considered a vice on the Aristotelian conception and as contrary to virtuous practice. He writes, "we must take as an indication of a person's states of pleasure or pain consequent on what he does, because the person who abstains from bodily pleasures and finds his enjoyment in doing just this is temperate, whilst the person doing it oppressive is intemperate " (1104b, NE). A temperate person will gain a higher pleasure by abstaining from such indulgence than by surrendering to appetitive compulsions. Gluttony is just one example of how Aristotle condemns those who submit to passions over reason. Although Dante devotes little text to the actual sin, he condemns the gluttonous in the third circle of Hell through vivid imagery and symbolism. The image of the gluttonous lying sightless and heedless symbolizes the empty and selfish sensuality of their lives.
