Summary: Canto XIV
Dante gathers the bush’s scattered leaves and gives them
to the bush. He and Virgil then proceed through the forest of tree-souls
to the edge of the Third Ring of the Seventh Circle of Hell. Here
they find a desert of red-hot sand, upon which flakes of fire drift
down slowly but ceaselessly. As Virgil expounded in Canto XI, this
ring, reserved for those who were violent against God, is divided
into three zones. The rain of fire falls throughout all three. The
First Zone is for the Blasphemers, who must lie prone on a bank
of sand. The falling flakes of fire keep the sand perpetually hot,
ensuring that the souls burn from above and below. Among these sinners
Dante sees a giant, whom Virgil identifies as Capaneus, one of the
kings who besieged Thebes. Capaneus rages relentlessly, insisting
that the tortures of Hell shall never break his defiance.
The poets reach another river, which runs red, and Virgil
speaks to Dante about the source of Hell’s waters. Underneath a
mountain on the island of Crete sits the broken statue of an Old
Man. Tears flow through the cracks in the statue, gathering at his
feet. As they stream away, they form the Acheron, the Styx, the
Phlegethon, and finally Cocytus, the pool at the bottom of Hell.
Summary: Canto XV
Crossing the stream, Virgil and Dante enter the Second
Zone of the Seventh Circle’s Third Ring, where the Sodomites—those
violent against nature—must walk continuously under the rain of
fire. One of these souls, Brunetto Latini, recognizes Dante and
asks him to walk near the sand for a while so that they may converse.
Latini predicts that Dante will be rewarded for his heroic political
actions. Dante dismisses this prediction and says that Fortune will
do as she pleases. Virgil approves of this attitude, and they move
on as Latini returns to his appointed path.
Summary: Canto XVI
Still in the Second Zone among the Sodomites, Dante is
approached by another group of souls, three of whom claim to recognize
Dante as their countryman. The flames have charred their features
beyond recognition, so they tell Dante their names. Dante recalls
their names from his time in Florence and feels great pity for them.
They ask if courtesy and valor still characterize their city, but
Dante sadly replies that acts of excess and arrogance now reign.
Before leaving the Second Zone, Virgil makes a strange
request. He asks for the cord that Dante wears as a belt, then throws
one end of it into a ravine filled with dark water. Dante watches
incredulously as a horrible creature rises up before them.
Summary: Canto XVII
Dante now sees that the creature has the face of a man,
the body of a serpent, and two hairy paws. Approaching it, he and
Virgil descend into the Third Zone of this circle’s Third Ring.
Virgil stays to speak with the beast, sending Dante ahead to explore
the zone, inhabited by those who were violent against art (Virgil
has earlier denoted them as the Usurers). Dante sees that these
souls must sit beneath the rain of fire with purses around their
necks; these bear the sinners’ respective family emblems, which
each “with hungry eyes consumed” (XVII.51).
As they appear unwilling to talk, Dante returns to Virgil.
