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. Dante and Virgil turn to the left, but they are walking faster than the weighted-down Hypocrites, so Dante asks Virgil to slow down and find a spirit that he might know.
A spirit calls to Dante, recognizing his Tuscan speech, and asks him to wait. Two spirits approach without speaking. Finally, one observes that Dante must be alive because his throat moves. Speaking to Dante, they ask why he has come to this valley of Hypocrites and who he is.
Dante tells them he is a Florentine and is indeed alive; in turn, he asks who they are who weep so bitterly and what their punishment is. They answer that they were of the order of the Jovial Friars and had been named to govern Florence jointly, in order to keep peace.
Dante angrily begins to speak to the friars of their evil, when he sees a figure on the ground held by three stakes. Friar Catalan explains that this is 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, and his father-in-law (Annas) and the Council are punished in the same manner. Virgil looks at Caiaphas for some time.
Finally, he turns and asks the friar if there is a bridge over the chasm. The friar answers that all were destroyed at the same time, but the travelers may climb out of the ruins of the one nearby, without much difficulty.
