Canto 16

                    

Summary/Analysis:

Canto 16 starts with Dante reaching a place where he heard the thundering of the water falling into the next circle. Three spirits passed by beneath the rain of fire in order to meet Dante because they quickly recognized him as their countryman lived in the depraved city, as they assumed, Florentine. The wounds on their body damaged so much that Dante was unable to recognize them. They suddenly started, again, their formal verse, the wheeled motion. As they wheeled, they told Dante who they were and hope Dante could remember. Dante quickly recognized them and showed a great pity toward them. Then, they ask Dante if courtesy and valor still dwell in their city as they used to do. Dante told them that the new people and the rapid gains have generated pride and excess. Dante cried a little, for the reign of those misbelief of governing in his city. Before they let, they told Dante that he should satisfy others in order for him to be happy. They quickly broke the circle and disappeared in the sight. Virgil and Dante kept walking until the sound of the water makes them hardly hear each other speak. Dante had a cord girding him, and he united it from around him under Virgil's command. Virgil threw it down into the deep pit far from the bank. Dante realized that Virgil had already seen his inner thoughts because he had thought at times to capture the leopard with the spotted hide. Virgil told him that thoughts will come up, and soon it will be revealed to the sight. They noticed a horrible figure come swimming upward toward them swiftly.

In this canto, several reference and symbol are used just like other cantos.

The comparison with wrestlers includes implicit reference to the athletes of ancient Greece and Rome. In addition to the implicit homosexual reference, there is probably also a comment here on the disparity of their high courtesy and concern for the public good (the path of their heads.) coexisting with their homosexual conduct ( the path of their feet).

"If you escape these dark places and go back to see the beautiful stars, when it will be pleasant to say, 'I was'. The last phrase echoes the famous line in Aen. 1.203 quoted in the note to 5.121. " Go back to see the beautiful stars" is a striking anticipation of the last line of the Inferno.

Knotted cord symbolizes fraud, the pilgrim's own inclination to fraud. It attracts Geryon.

"I saw.... draws in his feet": Geryon's flight describes in terms of swimming, as the Florentines' running was compared to flight. 

Punishment/Contrapasso:

Walking around the circle under the fire rain.

Characters:

 Guido Guerra: one of the most powerful noble families of Tuscany. He was one of the chief leaders of the Tuscan Guelfs and distinguished himself at the Battle of Benevento.

 Tegghiaio Aldobrandi: Another high-ranking nobleman of Guelf persuasion, who attempted to dissuade the Florentines from marching against the Sienese in what became the Battle of Montaperti.

 Iacopo Rusticucci: Apparently a member of the lesser nobility, flourished around 1235 to 1254, still alive in 1266. Early commentators say that the hostility between him and his wife caused them to live apart and turned him against women in general.

Questions:

1. Why did Dante cried after he told what happened in Florentine?

2. Why do you think he used the three noblemen as characters in this canto?

3. What do you think the knotted cord stands for? Do you agree with the commentators?