1–3. Silent, alone … go their way: Franciscan friars went on their begging rounds in pairs, the younger following in the steps of the elder with lowered eyes. The commentators point out that the image anticipates the conventual imagery important later in the canto. The shift in tone from the ending of the last canto is striking.
4–33. Because of the present scuffle … the imagined pursuit: The pilgrim reacts to images in his memory, both of the scuffle and of Aesop’s fables (popular in many reworkings and translations, and often used as elementary Latin textbooks); his thought is associative and combinatory, and it bears fruit in further images and even physical sensations (lines 19, 23–24). And it soon turns out that the pilgrim’s imaginings are correct. On the other hand, Virgil’s responses seem slow and ponderous, though he does act with dispatch in lines 37–45.
In emphasizing the pilgrim’s vivid imaginings, Dante is drawing on the medieval idea of the imagination: the imaging faculty, which we share with the beasts, with its physical organ (the anterior ventricle of the brain), by which we are able to construct, associate, analyze, and combine images derived from the data of the senses, closely associated with the memory (in the rear ventricle) and with foresight. The entire passage is in fact a kind of test case for the usefulness of the body. Virgil’s strangely disembodied responses here probably derive from this conception (he is close to personifying “disembodied” reason: cf. the mirror image in line 25).
4–6. that fable by Aesop: Among the dozens of versions of “Aesop” circulating in the Middle Ages (most of them going back to the Roman author Phaedrus), Dante seems to have used those deriving from the Romulus in Latin verse by Walter of England, of which there are a number of Old French adaptations and expansions. In the most widely circulated, a frog offers to swim a mouse across a body of water, intending to drown him; the frog ties his leg to the mouse’s; when the frog tries to drown the mouse, their struggles attract a hawk, who seizes them; the frog’s leg being tied to the mouse makes escape impossible for both of them. The “morality” of the fable emphasizes that the devices of the fraudulent return upon them: in the Old French Ysopet (Paris, I, in McKenzie and Oldfather), “barat doit conchier son mestre” [a swindle must cover its maker with shit]. Both Walter’s Latin and the French versions emphasize the idea of the snare (las). In Marie de France’s version, also based on the Romulus, the hawk eats the frog but lets the mouse go as too small (curiously, in her version the frog tempts the mouse out from her home in a land mill; see line 47).
7–9. for mo and issa . . . close attention: That is, the beginning and end of the scuffle are like those of the fable (mo and issa both mean “now” or “soon”; issa/istra is identified in 27.20–21 as Lombard; the two words are instances of identical content in different form or different dress-[see Additional Note 13]). The parallels Dante intends are not too clear, and the commentators have not reached agreement on them. In our view, the pilgrim and Virgil seem parallel to the mouse in seeking help from the devils, who would be parallel to the frog with its evil intentions; thus Ciampolo would be an inverted parallel to the hawk. Many other possibilities have been suggested.
16. If anger … ill will: That is, if anger is now added to the devils’ permanent disposition of ill will.
25–27. If I were made of leaded glass … your inner one: Mirrors were made by coating one side of a sheet of glass with lead. Virgil is saying, “If I were a mirror, I would not catch the image of your body (your outer image) faster than I see your imagining or your thought (your inner image)”. Virgil is close to a personification of human reason here, which operates in conjunction with the (bodily) imaging faculty.
28–30. Just now your thoughts … a single counsel: A striking personification of the pilgrim’s and Virgil’s thoughts. Virgil claims that his thoughts are just as anguished as the pilgrim’s (whose “bearing and face” must be terror-stricken), but it is hard to believe him. “I have made a single counsel of them” means “I have reached a decision on their basis”.
31–32. If the right bank slopes … the next pocket: As 19.35 has already made clear, the outer bank of a bolgia (i.e., the one farthest from the center) has a steeper slope than the inner one. Note that Virgil’s words also serve an expository function.
40–42. not stopping even to put on her shift: That is, she is naked; her concern for her child causes her to disregard appearances entirely; the line has also been interpreted to mean the mother wears “only a shift”.
44–45. he gave himself supine …the next pocket: That is, Virgil, holding Dante to his breast, slides down the bank into the next bolgia; he is “supine” because the bank is so steep that he cannot sit up as he slides, but must lie back.
46–48. Water has never coursed … the paddles: Dante has in mind the type of mill to which stream or river water is diverted through a system of sloping canals and sluices; as the early commentator Buti observed, this type usually has wheels smaller than those of the type set in the river itself, and therefore requires high velocity in the water. For the question of the relation of these cantos to events in Dante’s life, see Additional Note 9.
55–57. the high Providence … power to leave it: The pilgrim at least may be presumed not to have known of this limitation in advance, partly because of the devil of 21.29–45.
58. a painted people: The expression is probably explained in line 64 (some early commentators took the expression to mean the hypocrites’ faces were painted to simulate ascetic pallor). For the connection of painting and colors with fraud, see the description of Geryon, especially 17.16–18.
60. by their expressions: A reminder that the facial expressions of the hypocrites were not, in life, a reliable index of their feelings.
61–63. They were wearing robes … for the monks: 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 Saint 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 elaborate liturgy. Saint Bernard vehemently criticized the luxurious woolen and fur habits worn by its monks.
64–65. On the outside … all of lead: Hypokrites, the Greek etymon of hypocrite, derived from the verb “to judge,” meant, variously, “one who gives an answer”; an “interpreter”; an “actor” (in plays and recitations); and thus a “simulator”. Dante, however, is following the etymology given by the famous thirteenth-century handbook of (often fanciful) etymologies, Uguccione of Pisa’s Magnae derivationes: “hypocrita derives from hyper, above, and crisis, gold, as it were gilt over, for on the surface and externally he appears good, but within he is evil; or hypocrita is derived from hypo, below, and crisis, gold, as it were having something else beneath the gold” (quoted by Sapegno; cf. Toynbee 1897). Dante is also drawing on the denunciations of hypocrisy in the Gospels (Matt. 6.1–6, 16–18; 7.4–5, 15; 15.1–9; and Chapter 23 in its entirety, as well as passages in the other Gospels).
65–66. so heavy … of straw: According to the Guelf propaganda campaign against the emperor Frederick II (see the notes to 10.119, 13.58–61), he punished traitors by encasing them in lead and then roasting them (cf. Phalaris’s bull, 27.7–15).
67. Oh eternally laborious mantle: The contrapasso is clear: the continual alertness required for the hypocrite to conceal his true feelings (usually said to be vainglory and avarice) is symbolized by the weight of the cloak. Dante is following a tradition, which has a certain basis in the Gospels (see the note to lines 89–90), personifying hypocrisy in terms of the monastic or religious orders. In the Romance of the Rose, a particularly influential text, Faux-Semblant [False-Seeming] is represented as a Franciscan friar (cf. 23.1–3, with note). Note also the use of the term manto for the papal mantle (19.69).
70–72. because of the weight… motion of our hips: This is also a commentary on the difficulty hypocrites have, caught up as they are in their pretenses, in achieving repentance or actual spiritual progress.
72. with each motion of our hips: At each step.
76. my Tuscan speech: Again the emphasis on the pilgrim’s regional speech (also in line 91).
82–83. two showing in their faces … to be with me: This is a brilliantly two-edged detail: 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; but the lines also suggest that-in keeping with their fundamental sin-even this appearance may be misleading.
84. the crowded way: The Italian stretta may mean “narrow” here (cf. Matt. 7.13–14, on the “narrow way” that leads to salvation).
85. sidelong: Literally, “with oblique eye” (con I’occhio bieco), the traditional crooked glance of the envious (see 6.91, with note). Aquinas’s Catena aurea on Matt.7.5 (“Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam from thine own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the [straw] from thy brother’s eye”) quotes Augustine: “Removing from our own eye the beam of envy or malice or dissembling, then we can see to cast out the straw from our brother’s eye”.
89–90. by what privilege … from the weighty stole: The hypocrites are using legal language: “privilege” is technically a right (a law, lex) specific (or private) to a single person or restricted group. The “heavy stole” is of course their leaden garment. The term stole is used in a number of New Testament passages: in the Gospel denunciations of hypocrites (Mark and Luke), it refers to luxurious garments: “Beware of the scribes, who desire to walk in [stoles] and love salutations in the market place … ; who devour the houses of widows, feigning long prayer. These will receive a greater damnation” (Luke 20.46–47). In the Apocalypse (e.g., 6.11, 7.9), the white stole is the garb of the redeemed (see Purg. 32.81 and Par. 25.95, 30.129, with notes).
91. O Tuscan: The soul has recognized the pilgrim’s speech as Tuscan; his apostrophe recalls Farinata’s in 10.22.
91. the college of the sad hypocrites: Italian collegio (Latin collegium, a binding together) was used of many kinds of organization and usually implied a set of rules; here the hypocrite is comparing the bolgia of the hypocrites to a convent. The Sanhedrin (referred to in lines 122–23) could also be called a collegio; in Par. 19.110–11, Dante calls the blessed and the damned “the two colleges”. “The sad hypocrites” is a quotation from the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 6.16): “When you fast, be not like the sad hypocrites” (hypocritae tristes).
94–96. I was born … I have always had: The pilgrim’s reply does not tell the hypocrites anything they have not already inferred or could infer (see line 88, and the first note to line 91).
95. the great city: In 1300 Florence was one of the two or three largest cities in Europe. Dante’s term for “city” here is villa (cf. 1.109).
97–99. But who are you … sparkles so: Since lines 64–67 would seem to mean that the pilgrim has already understood the nature of the punishment in this bolgia; he is now being extremely disingenuous (and scornful-“sparkles” of course refers to the bright gold exterior of their robes).
100–102. The orange robes … make their balances creak: Catalano is comparing the structure of the human body, with the spine crossed by the shoulders and arms, to that of a traditional balance or scale; it would seem the weight causes the very bones to grind against each other. There is a rich 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; cf. lines 15–16 of Venantius Fortunatus’s hymn “Vexilla regis,” which is discussed in the note to 34.1–2). Thus, like the punishment of the members of the Sanhedrin (lines 115–23), there is a clear indication that the punishment of the hypocrites is a distorted parody of the Crucifixion, punishing their corruption of justice (see the note to lines 105–8).
103. We were Jolly Friars: Frati godenti was the scornful popular nickname for the Cavalieri della Milizia della Beata Maria Vergine Gloriosa, a religious order founded in 1260 for the purpose of promoting civil peace; the brothers were prohibited from accepting governmental positions (but see the note to lines 105–8). The nickname reflects the fact that the order quickly achieved a reputation for corruption and self-interest.
104. I named Catalano and he Loderingo: Catalano dei Malavolti was a Guelf; Loderingo degli Andalo, one of the founders of the order, was a Ghibelline.
105–8. taken both together … around the Gardingo: Medieval Italian cities often appointed citizens of other cities to such posts as podestà (see the note to 6.96), usually singly. In 1266, in an effort to mediate the enmity between the Guelfs and the Ghibellines, Florence appointed these two jointly. Dante clearly feels that they hypocritically pretended impartiality but secretly fomented the anti-Ghibelline violence that erupted in 1267, leading to the banishment of prominent Ghibelline families and the confiscation of their property, and, in the case of the Uberti and several others, the destruction of their houses: the Uberti houses were near the Gardingo (the term means “watchtower”); the space they occupied until 1267 is now the Piazza della Signoria. Modern scholarship holds that Catalano’s and Loderingo’s activities were explicitly directed by the pope, Clement IV.
109. I began: “O friars, your evil: This ambiguous beginning (mali [evils] is plural; it could be either a noun or an adjective) is like that of the pilgrim’s replies to Francesca (5.116) and to Ciacco (6.58); presumably the continuation would have been scornfully ironic. The interruption reflects the pilgrim’s amazement at the sight now described (for Virgil’s amazement, see line 124).
111. with three stakes: That is, one through each hand and one through both feet, as Jesus was represented as having been crucified (though with nails, not stakes).
115–23. That one staked there … so ill for the Jews: It is Caiaphas, the high priest and head of the Sanhedrin (the supreme council of Jerusalem), who urged the crucifixion ofjesus with the words, “It is expedient that one man die for the people” (John 11.45–52, 18.14). Dante follows the traditional interpretation, which held that Caiaphas and the others voted to condemn Jesus in order to silence his criticisms of their hypocrisy, covering their self-interest with a pretense of public concern (Caiaphas’s words unwittingly alluded to the Atonement).
118–20. He is stretched … feel his weight first: Thus the hypocrites who voted to kill Jesus must feel the weight of the hypocrisy of all the others. This is a parodic parallel to the traditional idea that Christ on the Cross bore the weight of all men’s sins (the parodic nature of the general punishment here is discussed in the note to lines 100–102). Is. 51.23 (on the humiliation of Jerusalem), “and you have placed your body as it were as a road for passers-by,” is possibly being echoed here.
121. his father-in-law: Annas, Caiaphas’s father-in-law, also a member of the Sanhedrin.
122. council that sowed so ill for the Jews: Like other medieval Christians, Dante considered the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans under Titus (A.D.70), as well as the later diaspora, to be the divinely ordained punishment of the Jews for the killing of Jesus (the Gospels represent them as accepting the guilt on their heads and those of their children; e.g., Matt. 27.25). The matter is discussed at some length in Paradiso 7.
124–26. Then I saw Virgil … in the eternal exile: The miraculous aspects of the Incarnation and Atonement are apparently unknown and incomprehensible to Virgil, who is denied the Christian revelation. But the pilgrim is also amazed; see also Jer. 49.17 (on the destruction of Edom): “Every one that shall pass by it, shall be astonished and will whistle over all her wounds”.
128–32. Let it not displease you … to transport us: Note the parallel with the ceremonious pseudocourtesy of the hypocrites in line 93. “On the right hand” is specified because their turn to the left placed the center of Hell to their right.
139–41. My leader stood … on this side: Virgil bends his head in thought (compare the pilgrim’s bowed head in 5.109–11) as he comes to understand Evil Tail’s deception (21.111). Since the beginning of the canto, he and the pilgrim have walked at a normal pace (1–33); slid to the bottom of this bolgia (34–51); resumed a normal pace (68–72); stood still to await the two hypocrites (81–82); and walked at the pace of the hypocrites (81). They again stand still as Virgil meditates here. Now, with an angry energy that provides welcome release from the accumulated sense of constraint, they walk rapidly toward the fallen bridge.
144. a liar and the father of lies: The hypocrite is quoting Christ’s words in John 8.44: “for he [the devil] is a liar, and the father thereof [i.e., of lies]”; the phrase had become proverbial.
148. following the prints of his dear feet: A line that beautifully crystallizes the affection that underlies all the humor at Virgil’s expense in this and the two previous cantos.