Malacoda

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Malacoda is the chief of the squad of devils that guards the fifth bolgia of the eighth circle, where the damned are immersed in boiling pitch. His name is a Dantean coinage, constructed like Malebolge and Malebranche: the tail (coda) indicates the place where the demonic force resides. When Virgil commands the devils to let him and Dante pass, it is Malacoda himself who accepts the request and moves to respond. The critical note specifies that Malacoda speaks with a language that distinguishes him from the «common rabble» of devils, more elevated and almost like a theatrical «aside», with words that express «arrogant confidence». His indications about the bridges of the sixth bolgia, however, are false: all the bridges have collapsed and his words aim to make a mockery of Virgil, consistent with the fraudulent nature of the devils. The name is cited in the verse «They all shouted: «Let Malacoda go!»» and taken up several times in the critical notes on Canto XXI of the Inferno.