Canto 23

    CANTO 23

Summary:

            This canto begins with Virgil and Dante walking in the 5^th pouch. Dante says that the scuffle of the walk reminds him of the fable Aesop. The devils, with wings, continue to chase them. Dante is scared of these demons and tells Virgil that they need to hide. Virgil tells Dante that the right bank slopes they can go down the slope into the next pocket. The devils began to get closer to them and Virgil took Dante in his arms “like a mother” and takes them down the slope into the next pocket. The devils could no longer chase them because they have to remain in the designated pocket, and not travel between different ones. In the 6^th bolgia they fins painted people walking slowly and weeping. These people were wearing robes with hoods pulled low over their eyes (monks). Dante asks Virgil to keep his eyes out for someone he many know or is familiar with. Then one of the sinners recognizes Dante’s Tuscan speech and calls out to Virgil and Dante. Dante then sees two who are showing their faces, and watches as they slowly carry their burdens towards him. The two spoke to each other saying that this man (Dante) seems as if he is alive, and if he were dead then why was he so privileged to be exempt from the lead weight. The men then went on to talk to Dante and ask him whom he is. Dante then replies that he was raised beside the Arno River and is in his original body (still alive), he then asks them what their sin and punishments are. One of them replies that the orange robes are thick with heavy lead, which they have to walk around, he goes on to say that they were jolly friars from Bologna, and their names were Catalano and He Loderingo. The people in this level are the hypocrites. Dante then sees a man crucified with three stakes (like Jesus) to the ground where people walking step him on. This man was Caiaphas, who served as high priest under Pontius. Virgil then asks a friar the way to the 7^th pocket. The Friar answers tell him the way. Virgil then realizes that Malacoda had lied to him about the ridge. 

Sin/Sinners:            

            The sixth bolgia is where the hypocrites are, which are people who go against their stated beliefs or morals. “On the outside they are dazzling gilded, but within they are all of lead” (line 64).

Punishment/Contrapasso

            The punishments for these people whom “Were wearing robes with hoods pulled low over their eyes” (line 61) with heavy lead attached to them, and they must continue to walk around a small track. Although their walk is very slow due to the very heavy lead. They also have painted faces. These hypocrites must carry the burden of their sin (as lead). The robes are beautiful on the outside but full of lead in the inside this relate to their outward appearance was beautiful and what they wanted people to think of them and their inside shows their true colors that they are not the person they the put out to be.

Characters/People

Ø    Catalano and He Loderingo: They were called jolly friars, which was a scornful nickname for a religious order that had a reputation of corruption and self-interest. Both of these Italian men were appointed citizens of the Florence. They were appointed together to mediate the conflicts between Guelfs and Ghibellines. But they hypocritically formed the anti-Ghibelline violence that erupted in 1267, leading to the banishment of the Ghibelline families.

Ø    Caiaphas: The high priest and head of Sanherdrin (the supreme council of Jerusalem) who urged the crucifixion of Jesus, and is said to have organized the plot to kill Jesus. He was a Jewish man.

Ø    Fredrick: “So heavy that the ones Frederick put on people might have been of straw” (line 65). Frederick is said to have punished people by wrapping then in lead and casting them into the furnace.

Important Information/Quotes

The Fable by Aesop	In this fable a frog offers to swim a mouse across a body of water, intending to actual drowned the mouse. The frog ties his leg to the mouse and when the frog tries to drown the mouse, a hawk comes and scopes them both up.
“Like a mother” (line 37) “Who takes her son and flees, caring more for him than for herself” (line 40) “Along on his breast like his son, not his companion” (line 49)	As Virgil takes Dante in his arms and slides into the next pocket, it is like Virgil is Dante’s mother, and Dante is his son. He holds Dante close and protects him from the devils.
“Down there we found a painted people” (line 58)	In these people lives their emotions on their face were not always their true emotions, and by painting them it shows their fraud.
“For into my view came one crucified to the earth with three stakes” (line 111)	Like Jesus Caiaphas was crucified, although with 3 stakes instead of nails.  One in each hand and one through both feet.