Canto 23

Circle Eight: Bolgia Six – the Hypocrites

Summery

       Dante and Virgil continued silently. Dante was comparing the experience of bolgia five to Aesop’s fable of the frog and the mouse. To get out of the grafters bolgia, Virgil took up Dante and slid down to the bolgia six.

       They found that the sinners there were dressed in glorious gilded robes, but inside the robes were heavy lead which made the spirits weep as they slowly walk around. Virgil was told to find someone to lead their way and one spirit stopped them. Two spirits saw Dante and was surprised he was alive. They told Dante and Virgil that this bolgia was full of hypocrites. They were the Jovial Friars, Catalano and Loderingo who were chosen to be peace guards in Florence. They had to suffer from the sins because they acted hypocritically before they die.

       When they were about to leave, Dante saw a sinner who was crucified by to the floor of Hell by three great stakes. He was the chief sinner of the place, Caiaphas. Later on, they decided to leave and they found they were deceived by Malacoda about the bridges over the Sixth Bolgia.

Sins/Punishments

Hypocrites: weighted down by great leaden robes, walk eternally round and round a narrow track.

Characters

-Catalano and Loderingo: founders of the order, was Ghibelline.

-Caiaphas: the High Priest of the Jews who counseled the Pharisees to crucify Jesus in the name of public expedience.

Questions

-Why did Dante tell us about the frog and the mouse in Aesop’s fable?

-Why Hypocrites have this kind of sin?