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Virgil and Dante as Mind-Readers (Inferno XXI and XXIII) ROBERT HOLLANDER Dante's experience of the sin of barratry, punished in the fifth of the Malebolge, at first seems to be limited to a single incident (Inf XXI, 4-57) and to a single exemplary sinner (the unnamed elder of Lucca, first identified as Martino Bottario by Guido da Pisa 1327: 409). This episode comes to an apparent point of closure in the memorable pseudo-simile which compares the tormented sinner to meat being pushed down into a boiling pot the better to be cooked (55-57). Yet immediately thereafter begins the most lengthy episode of all Inferno. The ensuing violent yet comic scene (XXI, 58-XXIII, 57, some 290 verses) includes the following narrative details: XXI, 58-87: Virgil, protecting the hidden Dante, confronts Malacoda, . the leader of this army of demons, and comes to terms with him. XXI, 88-105: Dante, called from his hiding place by Virgil, is eyed by two demons who would like to hook him; they must be restrained by Malacoda. XXI, 106-117: Malacoda lies successfully to Virgil, insisting that the travelers cannot cross over the sixth bolgia at this point because of the broken bridge, but may, under truce, accompany a band of his troops to the next crossing. XXI, 118-126: Malacoda appoints a squad of ten demons, with Barbariccia to serve as decurion; they are to allow Dante and Virgil to enjoy safe conduct only until they reach this (nonexistent) unbroken scoglio ("costor sian salvi infino . . ."). XXI, 127-135: Dante wishes to proceed without such escort; Virgil attempts to soothe his fear. XXI, 136-139: The squad of demons makes its oral response to Barbariccia 's anal signal. XXII, 1-12: The first of Dante's lengthy canto-opening similes· binds the two canti: Barbariccia's anal command is compared to the cennamella that signals the start of battle. XXIt 13-75: The squad treats cruelly the unnamed Navarrese (one 340 Gian Paolo, or "Ciampolo", according to Lana 1324 and other early commentators). XXII, 76-96: At Virgil's behest Ciampolo speaks of two others hidden in the pitch. XXII, 97-108: Ciampolo's stratagem, by which he hopes to escape the clutches of the Malebranche, is seen through by Cagnazzo. XXII, 109-117: Alichino is taken in, nonetheless, and consents to Ciampolo's conditions. XXII, 1I8-151: Ciampolo escapes; Alichino fails to catch him; Calcabrina uses Alichino's custodial failure as an excuse to attack him; they both fall into the pitch, whence the remaining eight make haste to hook them out. XXIII, 1-33: Dante and Virgil, now without escort (as Dante had originally hoped they would be), proceed along the ridge; Dante fears that the Malebranche, enraged because they were tricked on the traveler's account, must now be in pursuit; Virgil believes his concern justified. XXIII, 34-57: The Malebranche indeed are upon them; Virgil, compared to a mother escaping from a burning house with her babe, slides down into the sixth bolgia carrying Dante in his arms, thus effecting their escape. The immediate relevance of all this activity to one who has been exiled from his patria on a trumped-up charge of barratry has occasioned a debate in the discussion of Inf XXI and XXIII.2 Whatever autobiographical resonance Dante incorporated in the lengthy farcical interlude,' and even should it be without such resonance, what has received considerably less attention than it might have occasioned is the deft manipulation of the two major characters' differing responses to what transpires.' If we have previously had to acknowledge that Virgil is a less capable guide than we might like to imagine or than he is pleased to admit (see, for example , In! VIII, I 12-IX, 33; XlV, 43-45), we are in this instance for the first time forced to perceive that he is simply and utterly wrong.' 1. Teeth as Text and Virgil's Insufficient Gloss (XXI, 127-139). -Orne, maestro, che e quel ch'i' veggior diss'io, -deh, sanza scorta andianci soli, se tu sa' ir; ch'i' per me non la cheggio. Se tu se' sl accorto come suoli, non vedi tu ch'e' digrignan Ii denti e con Ie cigHa ne minc:ccian duoHr. Ed elli a me: -Non vo' che tu paventi; lasciali digrignar pur a loro senno, ch'e' fanno cio per Ii lessi dolenti". Per I'argine sinistro volta dienno; rna prima avea ciascun la lingua...

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