The Theme in the Work
Treachery is the sin that Hell places at the very bottom, and the choice of it shows what the poem means by bond. Virgil announces it in Canto XI of the Inferno: fraud, which is man's own evil, has two degrees, one against those who do not trust, which cuts only the bond of love that nature makes, and another against those who trust, which breaks the special bond of trust as well; it is in this second, in the smaller circle, that the traitor is consumed forever. The rest of the way through Malebolge is preparation: Venedico hands Ghisolabella over to the marquis, Jason deceives Hypsipyle, the fraudulent counselors use cleverness against those who trust, the sowers of discord cut what was joined. The form of the punishment repeats the breach, and in the end it becomes the general figure of the ice, the punishment of one who has undone a bond.
The face the poem gives to fraud is that of Geryon, in Canto XVII of the Inferno, the face of a just man over the body of a serpent, the appearance of loyalty over a venomous nature:
La faccia sua era faccia d’uom giusto, / tanto benigna avea di fuor la pelle, / e d’un serpente tutto l’altro fusto, his face was the face of a just man, so benign was the skin outside, and the rest of the body that of a serpent.
The lesson of the giants at the edge of the well is that intelligence placed at the service of ill will and force has no possible defense:
ché dove l’argomento de la mente / s’aggiugne al mal volere e a la possa, / nessun riparo vi può far la gente, for where the instrument of the mind joins ill will and force, no shelter can men make against it.
In the ice, treachery is divided by the bonds it breaks. According to the common reading, Caina is for kin, Antenora for country or party, Ptolomea for guests, and Judecca for benefactors. The poem does not declare the classification; it shows the scenes: Camiscion de' Pazzi waiting for Carlino, whose greater betrayal will make him look less guilty; Bocca, who refuses to give his name; Fra Alberigo, who explains that the soul falls into Ptolomea before death reaches the body, and a demon comes to govern it; and, at the center, Lucifer's mouth, in which he chews Judas.
Quell’ anima là sù c’ha maggior pena», / disse ’l maestro, «è Giuda Scarïotto, / che ’l capo ha dentro e fuor le gambe mena, that soul up there that suffers the greatest pain, said the master, is Judas Iscariot, who has his head inside and waves his legs outside.
The theme has a reverse, which the poem does not hide: loyalty that ends badly. Pier delle Vigne swears he never broke faith with his lord and asks that his memory be comforted, and the sons of Ugolino offer themselves as food to their father so that he may eat. Dante, for his part, is loyal to Virgil in Canto XVII of the Inferno, where he mounts Geryon out of shame before a good master, and in Canto XXXIII of the Inferno he promises Alberigo to clear his eyes and does not keep his word.
ed ei, pensando ch’io ’l fessi per voglia / di manicar, di sùbito levorsi / e disser: “Padre, assai ci fia men doglia / se tu mangi di noi: tu ne vestisti / queste misere carni, e tu le spoglia, and they, thinking I did it out of desire to eat, at once rose up and said: "Father, it will hurt us much less if you eat of us: you clothed us in this wretched flesh, and now you strip it off."
Who Embodies It
Ugolino carries both sides: a traitor, according to reputation, and a father whose sons offer their own bodies. Lucifer is the highest bond undone, the betrayed creator, the figure of one who, having the highest bond, broke it. Guido da Montefeltro is the cleverness that gives the fraudulent counsel. Pier delle Vigne is the sworn loyalty that the poem hears and does not absolve.
Where It Appears
- Canto V: Francesca says that Caina awaits whoever took her life, and the poem leaves the punishment of the traitor to kin announced in the second circle.
- Canto XIII: Pier delle Vigne swears by the new roots of the trunk that he never broke faith with his lord, and asks that someone comfort his memory.
- Canto XVII: Geryon reaches the bank with the face of a just man and the body of a serpent, and the narrator calls him a filthy image of fraud.
- Canto XVIII: Venedico Caccianemico confesses to having led Ghisolabella to do the marquis's will, and Virgil shows Jason, who deceived Hypsipyle and left her pregnant.
- Canto XXVII: Guido da Montefeltro gives the pope fraudulent counsel, and a devil shows him that one who does not repent cannot be absolved.
- Canto XXVIII: Bertran de Born carries his severed head like a lantern because he set father and son at war, and Mosca recalls the phrase that divided the Tuscans.
- Canto XXX: Sinon and Master Adam trade blows and accusations, the counterfeiter of coins and the false witness of Troy side by side.
- Canto XXXI: Nimrod speaks a language no one understands, Ephialtes is bound with chains, and Antaeus lowers the two of them into the pit of the traitors.
- Canto XXXII: Camiscion de' Pazzi waits for Carlino, whose greater betrayal will make him look less guilty, and Bocca refuses to give his name even under the pull of his hair.
- Canto XXXIII: Ugolino tells of the death of his sons in the tower, Fra Alberigo asks to have the hard veils removed from his face, and Dante does not do it.
- Canto XXXIV: Lucifer chews Judas, Brutus, and Cassius in his three mouths, and Judas, head inside, suffers the greatest pain.
Where the Readings Diverge
The poem does not decide whether Ugolino is a traitor or only has the reputation of having betrayed, and it leaves the question open in Dante's own words: even if he had the reputation of having betrayed the castles, the children were innocent. The father's punishment in the ice goes on, and the narrator's caveat does not lift it. The same ambiguity governs Dante's courtesy toward Alberigo, which the poem calls courtesy: irony that admits the broken promise, or literal meaning, the good manners of a pilgrim who does not serve a traitor.
Between the two, the ice shows the price of speaking of loyalty in a poem that betrays it and sustains it at the same time: the narrator who promises and does not keep his word, the guide who carries and rebukes. The text supports both readings.