Divina Commedia di Dante: Inferno — Résumé 🇺🇸 English
Upon recovering his senses after fainting from pity at the story of Francesca and Paolo, Dante finds himself in the third circle of Hell. Here, a relentless, cursed, heavy, and eternal storm of foul water, dark snow, and large hail pours down unceasingly upon the ground, causing the earth itself to stink. Guarding and tormenting the wretched souls submerged in this filth is Cerberus, a cruel and monstrous beast with three canine throats, red eyes, a greasy black beard, a wide belly, and clawed hands with which he flays, skins, and quarters the spirits. The souls howl like dogs under the driving rain and constantly turn their bodies to shield one side from the downpour with the other.
As Dante and Virgil approach, the great worm Cerberus opens his jaws and bares his tusks in agitation. Virgil quickly takes up earth in both hands and hurls the dirt straight into the ravenous gullets of the beast. Cerberus reacts just like a greedy dog that barks in eagerness for food, only to quiet down entirely once it seizes the morsel and focuses solely on devouring it. With the monster pacified, the two poets walk over the prone and weightless bodies of the tormented sinners lying thick on the ground.
One soul immediately sits up upon seeing them pass and asks Dante if he recognizes him, noting that Dante was made before he himself was destroyed. Dante replies that his anguish makes it difficult to place him, and asks who he is and why he suffers such a grievous punishment. The spirit reveals that he was a citizen of Florence, a city so full of envy that the sack is already overflowing, and that his name is Ciacco. Ciacco explains that he is punished here in the mud and rain because of the sinful crime of gluttony, and that he is joined by many other souls suffering the same penalty for the exact same transgression.
Moved by pity, Dante asks Ciacco what the fate of the citizens of the divided city will be, whether any just men remain within it, and what caused such great discord. Ciacco prophesies that after a long struggle, the factions will come to blood, and the savage party will drive out the other with much violence. Within three solar years, however, this faction will fall in turn, and the opposing side will rise to power through the force of a person who is currently playing a neutral game. This triumphant party will keep its head held high for a long time, holding the other under heavy burdens while the losers weep and feel disgraced. Ciacco adds that there are only two just men in the city, but nobody listens to them, and that pride, envy, and avarice are the three fiery sparks that have ignited everyone else's hearts.
Before sinking back down into the blindness of the other souls, Ciacco asks Dante to remember him to the living world when he returns there. Dante then asks Virgil about the whereabouts and condition of other notable Florentines from the past, such as Farinata, Tegghiaio, Iacopo Rusticucci, Arrigo, and Mosca, inquiring whether heaven sweetens them or hell poisons them. Virgil informs him that they are among the blackest souls, weighed down by diverse sins at the very bottom of the abyss, and that Dante will see them if he descends that far.
As they move slowly through the foul mixture of shadows and rain, Dante asks Virgil whether these torments will increase after the final sentence, become lesser, or remain just as burning. Virgil directs him back to his philosophy, which teaches that the more perfect a thing is, the more keenly it feels both good and pain. Although these damned people will never attain true perfection, Virgil explains that they expect to be more complete after the resurrection than they are now. Continuing their circuit around the path, the two travelers finally reach the edge of the circle where the descent leads further down, and there they find the great enemy Pluto waiting.