Dante, Inferno
Golden Outside, Lead Within
The company in the sixth ditch wears hooded cloaks whose exterior dazzles like gold but whose interior is made of lead. Their weight makes the wearers appear exhausted and forces the procession into slow movement. Dante and Virgil must alter their pace to speak with particular inhabitants. The garments also distinguish the unburdened visitors, prompting questions about their status and the living movement of Dante’s throat.
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In the sources
The encounter
LiteraryThe company in the sixth ditch wears hooded cloaks whose exterior dazzles like gold but whose interior is made of lead. Their weight makes the wearers appear exhausted and forces the procession into slow movement.
Further detail
LiteraryDante and Virgil must alter their pace to speak with particular inhabitants. The garments also distinguish the unburdened visitors, prompting questions about their status and the living movement of Dante’s throat.
Context & interpretation
This entry follows the supplied Thompson & Thomas edition of H. F. Cary’s translation. It describes Dante’s literary vision, distinguishing its assignments and reported claims from historical biography, other classical traditions and independently established accounts of an afterlife.
Original passages
Source 1
Dante's Inferno
overlaid with gold, dazzling to view, But leaden all within, and of such weight, That Frederick's compared to these were straw. Oh, everlasting wearisome attire !Open this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Dante’s Inferno, Cary translation; active reader leaf 157
Passage read in the exact edition’s extracted canto text; whitespace-normalised anchor and original-leaf mapping checked. Associated plates separately inspected.
- Edition
- IMJ-0082-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0082-E001-P0157
- Original scan leaf
- 164
- Recorded leaf number
- 164
- Current Reader position
- 157
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Dante's Inferno
by the weight opprest, so slowly came The fainting people, that our company Was changed, at every movement of the step. Whence I my guide address'dOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Dante’s Inferno, Cary translation; active reader leaf 157
Passage read in the exact edition’s extracted canto text; whitespace-normalised anchor and original-leaf mapping checked. Associated plates separately inspected.
- Edition
- IMJ-0082-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0082-E001-P0157
- Original scan leaf
- 164
- Recorded leaf number
- 164
- Current Reader position
- 157
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Illustrations
Continue exploring
Catalano and Loderingo
Two Bolognese friars who recall their joint appointment as arbiters in Florence.
Shared illustrationThe Friar Reveals the Broken Bridge
Local testimony corrects the route offered by Malacoda.
Same subject and traditionThe Condemned Souls’ Distant Knowledge
Farinata’s explanation of foresight combined with ignorance of present events.
Same subject and traditionThe Epicureans in Dante’s Cemetery
The group defined in the poem by the belief that spirit dies with the body.