Dante's Divine Comedy

• 1. Read lines 1-3. How does this tercet shift the tone of narrative established at the end of the previous canto?

Canto XXII ended in the uproar of the temporarily defeated demons and the stealthy departure of Virgil and Dante while Canto XXIII opens with the solemn – even reverential – tone of these opening lines.

How do these same lines foreshadow what is to come?

The reference to Virgil and Dante walking one after the other like Friars Minor anticipates both the procession of the hypocrites in this bolgia and the fact that the two interlocutory sinners are themselves Friars Minor.

Friars Minor is the actual official name of the Franciscans in Dante’s time. Dante himself was not a Franciscan but studies at the Franciscan studium of Santa Croce in Florence. There he interacted with prominent thinkers in the Order, in particular Peter John Olivi who taught a rigorous interpretation of poverty to which Dante appears to have subscribed in principle.

2. Lines 4-33 constitute the first major section of the canto. That section itself begins with the allusion to Aesop’s fable of the frog and the mouse, a tale recapped by Esolen in his notes on this canto. What is the moral commentary of the fable (lines 4-6) in terms of fraud?

It emphasizes that the devices of the fraudulent return upon them.

How is the fable appropriate to interpreting the concluding fracas in the previous canto. That is, of the unnamed Navarrese, Harlequin, and Tramplefrost, which corresponds to the mouse, which to the frog, and which to the kite/hawk?

The Navarrese is the mouse since he is held by Harlequin who is the frog who is attacked by Tramplefrost who is the kite/hawk.

Interpreted differently, how may Dante, Virgil, and the Malebranche as a group be interpreted in the fable’s three principal figures?

Lead and often held by Virgil (the frog), Dante (the mouse) along with Virgil is pursued by the Malebranche (the kite/hawk). Of course, in this interpretation, the moral of the fable is not so much the consequences of fraud as it is to the consequences of misinterpretation of the situation on Virgil’s part.

Of course, commentators have interpreted the application of the fable in numerous ways.

The next part of this initial section plays out in lines 10-57 When Dante once again asks Virgil to flee the devils (lines 21-24) as he had in Canto XXI, 127-132, how does Virgil respond (lines 25-33)?

He agrees instantly, saying he and Dante are of one mind. He has a plan to mount the lower slope that marks the border between the fifth and sixth bolgias in order to escape the pursuing devils.

How does Virgil explain his instant response?

He declares that if he were himself a mirror, he would not have reflected Dante’s image as fast as he read his mind (probably – as the personification of Reason – by interpreting their shared experience but not supernaturally).

Tibor Wlassics sees this mirror image as indicative of the two men being “doubles of each other.”

What is happening simultaneously with Virgil’s explaining his plan (lines 34-36)?

As Virgil begins to explain his plan, Dante notices the pursuing devils headed toward them.

What is impact of the simile in lines 37-42?

Virgil’s customary paternal role here is resolved into a maternal one.

The circumstance of a mother responding to a housefire was all too common in medieval Florence.

Describe the full execution of Virgil’s plan of escape (lines 43-54).

Once again Virgil holds Dante close to himself and slides down the bank into the sixth bolgia on his back.

In cinematic style, Virgil accomplishes the safe escape to the next bolgia in the nick of time.

How has Dante altered his thinking regarding Virgil and his rescue in line 51/

At the conclusion of the rescue Virgil is like a father to Dante while at its outset he was like a mother.

What new information regarding the structure and administration of Hell is revealed in lines 55-57?

The devils are constrained by God’s will to movement solely within the fifth bolgia. They cannot pursue Dante and Virgil into the sixth.

• 3. The final section of this canto spans lines 58-72. How do lines 58-60 shift the pacing of the narrative of the devils and the barrators to that of the hypocrites?

While the narrative of the barrators, especially the episode involving the Navarrese’s duping of the devils, was characterized by frenetic actions, from the introduction of the hypocrites the pace is slow.

Describe the punishment of the hypocrites (lines 59-67).

They walk slowly, their eyes filled with tears. They wear hooded capes with voluminous cowls. The exterior of their capes and cowls is brilliantly golden, but they are actually made of lead. It may be said that they are dressed as monks (save for the color of their habits).

The abbey of Cluny in Burgundy, founded in 910, was originally the chief expression of a major reform movement in Benedictine monasticism, introducing a system of centralized administration in which daughter houses, called priories, were subject to Cluny. By the time of St. Bernard of Clairvaux (leader of another and more austere reform movement, that of the Cistercians, in the early twelfth century), Cluny was extremely powerful, with the largest church in Europe, famous for its wealth, luxury, proliferation of artistic ornament, and elaborated liturgy. St. Bernard vehemently criticized the luxurious woolen and fur habits worn by its monks.

In other words, the allusion to Cluny is an allusion to hypocrisy.

To explain the contrapasso of the sixth bolgia, consider Matthew 6:16, 15:8, and 23:27.

“And when you fast, be not as the hypocrites, sad. For they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward.”

“This people honoureth me with their lips: but their heart is far from me.”

“Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you are like to whited sepulchers, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men’s bones, and of all filthiness.”

How do they connect to the punishment of the hypocrites?

Each of these passages express a certain falsification committed by hypocrites: putting on a false demeanor, saying the opposite of what is believed or done, and appearing attractive while in fact teeming with the filth of fraud.

What do you make of the weight of the leaden capes they wear in terms of contrapasso?

The continual alertness required for the hypocrite to conceal his true feelings (usually said to be vainglory and avarice) is symbolize by the wight of the cloak.

Dante is following a tradition, which has a certain basis in the Gospels, personifying hypocrisy in terms of the monastic or religious order.

Just how slowly do the hypocrites move?

Their slow pace is made clear by the fact that, though they are always moving, each step Dante makes finds him beside a different sinner (as though they weren’t moving at all).

• 4. Following directly from the description of the hypocrites’ punishment, Dante asks once again to speak to “someone we might recognize by deed or name.” Specifically, why does he get an immediate response? (lines 73-76)

Just as the unnamed Navarrese barrator recognized Dante’s Tuscan accent, a sinner her recognizes it as well and responds.

In what two ways may lines 82-85 be interpreted?

On the assumption that these two hypocrites are “sincere” in their desire to reach the pilgrim, the irony of the contrapasso condemns them to great difficulty.

Yet, the lines also suggest that—in keeping with their fundamental sin—even this appearance may be misleading.

Consider lines 100-102. In doing so, think of how the human body might be conceived as being like a pair of scales: the spine is crossed by the shoulders and arms. It would seem the weight of the leaden capes causes the very bones to grind against each other. Can the punishment of the hypocrites, then, be interpreted as a distorted parody of the Crucifixion, punishing their corruption of justice?

It would seem that the weight causes the very bones to grind against each other.

There is a tradition attached to this analogy, connecting the Scales of Justice (seen in the constellation Libra, associated with the virgin goddess of Justice, Astraea, who returned to the sky to become the constellation Virgo, in the Middle Ages often identified with the Virgin Mary) and the figure of Christ on the Cross (satisfying God’s justice.

How does the punishment of Caiaphas and the rest of the members of the Sanhedrin in the sixth bolgia connect to this interpretation? (lines 110-112)

Caiaphas and his fellow members of the Sanhedrin are nailed with three stakes (trinitarian?) to the floor of the bolgia, another parody of Christ’s crucifixion. Christ Crucified was and is depicted with one nail each in his two hands and one pinioning his feet to the cross. It is a particular contrapasso for their sins.

Esolen’s choice of “spread-eagled” is strange.

• 5. Who are the hypocrites who speak with Dante (lines 103-104)?

They are Catalano and Loderigo.

Dante’s calling them “Jolly Friars” uses the scornful popular nickname for a religious order founded in 1260 for the purpose of promoting civil peace. The brothers were prohibited from accepting governmental positions, which, of course, these two did. In addition, however, their overall rules were very lax. They could marry and live in their own homes. They could not use gold and silver trappings, attend secular banquets, or encourage the impulses of those in whom they were meant to make peace.

In their case, Dante believed these two fomented anti-Ghibelline violence, leading to the banishment of prominent Ghibelline families and the confiscation of their property. Modern scholarship has established that they worked under directions from the pope.

The nickname reflects the fact that the order quickly achieved a reputation for corruption and self-interest.

How do Caiaphas and his fellow members of the Sanhedrin participate in the punishment of the rest of the hypocrites? (line 118-120)

He feels the weight of every leaden-caped hypocrite who treads on his body.

This is a parodic parallel to Christ’s bearing the wight of all men’s sins on the cross.

Some see an echo here of Isaiah 51:21-23.

²¹ Therefore please hear this, you afflicted,
And drunk but not with wine.
²² Thus says your Lord,
The Lord and your God,
Who pleads the cause of His people:
“See, I have taken out of your hand
The cup of trembling,
The dregs of the cup of My fury;
You shall no longer drink it.
²³ But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you,
Who have said to you,
‘Lie down, that we may walk over you.’
And you have laid your body like the ground,
And as the street, for those who walk over.”

Why does Virgil look with astonishment on the crucified sinners (lines 124-126)?

The miraculous aspects of the Incarnation and Atonement are apparently unknown and incomprehensible to Virgil, show is denied the Christian revelation.

Of course, Dante is also amazed (line 115).

• 6. How is Virgil brought to understand his error in believing Malacoda’s statement that other bridges across the fifth bolgia were available for continuing his and Dante’s journey (lines 128-144?

When Virgil asks Catalano about a passage out of the bolgia so they can continue their journey, the friar explains that all the bridges connecting the fifth and sixth bridges are down (but others lie ahead).

How does Catalano humiliate Virgil when the poet realizes he has been lied to (lines 142-144)?

“When I was at Bologna I heard tell/of all the devil’s vices, and I heard/he was a liar and the father of lies.” (He is quoting John 8:44.)

How does Virgil react (lines 145-146)?

He is angry. Though he has walked at a slow pace through this canto, he now picks up the pace and proceeds with his Heaven-appointed task.

Dante the Poet has devised this humiliation of Virgil from the time he chose to believe Malacoda to the delivery of Catalano’s sarcastic words. How does Dante the Pilgrim atone for this humiliation? (line 148)

He follows Virgil and regards the poet’s feet as beloved.