Summary
In this canto, Dante shows us the three levels of sinners in round three and how they suffered in different degrees of exposure to the life.
The canto starts off with Dante restores the leaves from his countryman. Virgil let him move on to the third ring of circle seven--plain of burning sand. There, the souls suffered from the rain of fire. The three degrees of sufferers in the fire mentioned before are Blasphemers, Sodomites, and Usurers. They represent the violent against God, nature, and art in order.
Among the sinners, Dante sees a giant--Capaneus, who is one of the kings that besieged Thebes. He is very furious and insists that God (Jove in Roman) can never constraint him.
Dante and Virgil move along the edge of the Wood of Suicides and come to a blood red rill which is crossed the burning plain. Here, the Old Man of Crete is introduced. It is a statue sits underneath a mountain under island Crete. Tears flow through the cracks on the statue and form the Acheron, the Styx, the Phlegethon and the Cocytus (a pool at the bottom of Hell).
Characters
-Cato: Cato of Utica led an army across the Libyan Desert.
-Alexander the Great: Mentioned when Dante tries to describe the bloody rain. He compares it to snow falling from the windless sky onto the Alps and then alludes to Alexander the Great expedition to India, when his troops were tormented by falling fire.
-Rhea: wife of Saturn and mother of Jove. Saturn's own son would dethrone him.
-An ancient giant: the Old Man of Crete which is built by different metals, such as gold and iron. Each metal represents one of the ages of the man.
Sin&Punishment
-Blasphemers, the violent against God-stretch supine upon the sand
-Sodomites, the violent against Nature-run in endless circles
-Usurers, the violent against Art-huddle on the sands
Questions
-Why does Dante gather the leaves from the ground and put them back near the tree?
-What is the symbolism of the rain of fire?
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