Dante and Virgil climb over the broken bridge deeper into Hell. Since Virgil has no physical body, climbing is only tiring and difficult for Dante. As they descend, Dante sees a sight that makes his “blood run cold”. It is a ditch filled with snakes tormenting another group of the damned. These are the souls of the thieves being punished. The serpents wrap themselves around the hands of the souls and coil themselves all around the bodies of these sinners. There is nowhere for these souls to hide from the eternal torment of the snakes.

Dante then sees a snake dart out and bite the neck of one of the sinners. The sinner immediately flares up and turns into a pile of ashes, only to quickly re-form into his original “body”, confused and in terror. Dante compares this metamorphoses to a Phoenix rising from the ashes. This sinner, Vanni Fucci, then explains to Dante that he was from Tuscany and was guilty of stealing the treasury from the church. He then gives Dante a prophecy about what will happen to Dante’s political party (and life) in Florence.

Dante and Virgil remain in this area briefly to witness another incredible and horrifying scene. … continue … or …go back...

At the bottom of the slope, Dante and Virgil look up to see the demons, wings spread out wide, enraged at being fooled.  But the devils are powerless to capture Dante and Virgil since they cannot go beyond the area of the grafters.  Dante and Virgil then approach a line of souls dressed in capes and hoods appearing to be monks, slowly walking.

These souls are the hypocrites who misused the offices of the church, and lied to their flock and to God.  Their punishment is to walk eternally in capes lined with lead, each step agonizingly slow and painful.  Virgil then looks down and sees the sight of a soul crucified to the ground.  This soul is Caiphas, the high priest who recommended that Jesus die rather than the Hebrew nation perish

Caiphas is crucified in the middle of the road, so all the other hypocrites in lead capes must walk over him, making him bear the weight of all their lies.  The canto ends with Virgil expressing his own anger at being taken in by the lies of the demons.  In the Divine Comedy, Virgil is said to represent human reason.   Dante will ultimately show us that human reason can only take us part way in the search for God.

The devils also lied about the bridge, which was broken.  However the condemned Friars tell Dante and Virgil of a detour which takes them deeper into Hell.  …continue… or …go back…

Guided by the demons, Dante and Virgil witness a grotesque comedy of horrors in the circle of the grafters.  They see the souls of the grafters squatting on the shores of the burning river of tar, however when the demons approach, the damned must dive underneath the tar to escape torture by the devils.  In one terrifying scene, a soul who was too slow to escape was held in the claws of a demon, about to be ripped apart.  Just as he did on earth, this soul uses his ability to lie and deceive in order to escape from the devils.  He promises the devils that if they hide out of sight, he will issue a secret signal to the other damned to come to the surface of the tar (thinking they are safe) so the devils can grab them all. 

The demons fall for the ruse, and as soon as they are out of sight, the soul of the damned dives back under the burning tar and escapes.  Dante compares this to frogs diving under water to escape predators.  Two of the demons fly down after the soul but they are too late, they end up in the boiling tar themselves, only to be extricated without their prey, covered in tar.  While all this is happening, Dante and Virgil escape from the ever increasing wrath of the devils.  This is a canto that combines the terror of Hell with an almost slapstick comedy of the bumbling demons.

Dante and Virgil then slide down a rocky slope and witness a somber scene. …continue…or…go back…