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CANTO SUMMARIES |
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Canto XIV |
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The Violent against God lie on their backs, supine, looking towards Him. The Violent against Art squat low. The Violent against Nature roam aimlessly. The sand is likened to the sands of Libya, trodden by the army of Cato of Utica. Shade encountered supine is Capaneus, who said even Jove could not stop him--he was struck by lightning. Even in death he is insolent and rebelliously silent.
Virgil warns Dante not to walk on the sand. They encounter a red brook, which turns the surrounding sand to stone and runs off the edge of the circle. It is compared to the Bulicame, a reddish hot spring in Viterbo, whose waters are used in the prostitutes' quarter.
V explains: at Mount Ida there is a man whose head is made of gold, his chest and arms silver, his lower abdomen brass, legs iron and right foot made of clay. Everything but the gold is cracked, and tears drip down the cracks into Hell. They create the rivers.
Only the Golden Age creates no cause for tears. The foot of iron is the Empire, the clay is the Church. The statue overlooks the divide (the Mediterranean) between the old world (the East) and the new (Rome). |
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Canto XV |
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The poets walk along the stream because the stone is cooler than the burning sand, and the steam blocks the rain of fire. Running nearby are the Violent against Nature (guilty, in this case, of sodomy), and one of them catches hold of Dante's garment. It is Brunetto Latini, Dante's teacher, and he can't stop because to stop for even a moment=100 years lying in the scorching sands. Brunetto tells Dante's future.
Other runners include Francis of Accorso and Priscian. |
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Canto XVI |
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The poets can hear the waterfall at the end of the path. Dante meets three Florentine nobles: Guido Guerra, Tegghiai' Aldobrandi, and Jacopo Rusticucci. A different group than Brunetto's--who were all men of letters. Jacopo says they have heard bad news from Guilliam Borsier. The shades run away after Dante confirms their fears.
Virgil asks Dante to give him his rope belt. He throws it over the cliff and in response...((see next Canto)). |
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