“And I beheld a black devil come behind us, up the rock!”
. . . . .
The poets walk unattended for a while, and Dante muses on Aesop's fable of the mouse and the frog. Then they arrive at the next chasm which is filled with spirits walking very slowly, as with a heavy burden. These shades are the Hypocrites. They wear cloaks and hoods that are dazzling with their glitter but lined with lead. The fable goes that a mouse wanted to cross a pond and asked a frog to help him. The frog, wanting to drown the mouse, suggested that he take the mouse across on his back. The mouse agreed, but was afraid of falling off, so the frog suggested that the mouse tie himself to the frog. When they reach the middle of the pond, the frog decides to dive under and pull the mouse with him. However, a hawk, seeing the struggling mouse, catches it, taking the frog with him. In Dante's comparison, the sinner represents the mouse and the demons that fell into the pitch represent the frog. Caiaphas, the high priest who told the council of Pharisees that it was better for Jesus to die than for the whole nation to perish. Therefore, he lies where each one who passes by must step upon him This canto deals with the Hypocrites, represented by Caiaphas. For their punishment, they are forced to wear coats that are beautiful on the outside, but lined inside with heavy lead, forcing them to bend over and struggle to move. This punishment fits the sin since they glitter on the outside but are so weighted down that there is no chance of spiritual progress. Dante's two themes of religion and politics collide again in the sixth pit. The Jovial Friars were an order founded to keep peace and enforce order. Of the two friars that Dante encounters here, one was a Guelph and one was a Ghibelline. Both friars were jointly appointed to help bring peace to Florence. However, their reign resulted in much bloodshed and violence, and they were shortly removed from office. Because the chasm of the Hypocrites is chiefly filled with sinners with whom religion played a major role in their damnation, it is fitting that Caiaphas, High Priest of the Jews, is the chief sinner of the pit Dante has placed the Hypocrites far down in the circles of Hell. Their presence is a restatement of Dante's definition of sin as perversion of the intellect. Few sins can equal the deliberate cloaking of one's true character and feelings in a false aspect of piety, tolerance or honesty. the heavy garments they wear force the sinners to adopt a decorous and subdued attitude which is entirely in character with their worldly habit of hiding a vicious nature beneath a virtuous and holy appearance.