# Inferno Canto 14

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.*

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> Christianity Index  Divine Comedy Index  Previous: Inferno Canto 13  Next: Inferno Canto 15  
> 
> Canto XIV
> 
> Argument
> 
>      They arrive at the beginning of the third of those compartments into
> which this seventh circle is divided. It is a plain of dry and hot sand, where
> three kinds of violence are punished; namely, against God, against Nature, and
> against Art; and those who have thus sinned, are tormented by flakes of fire,
> which are eternally showering down upon them. Among the violent against God is
> found Capaneus, whose blasphemies they hear. Next, turning to the left along
> the forest of self - slayers, and having journeyed a little onward, they meet
> with a streamlet of blood that issues from the forest and traverses the sandy
> plain. Here Virgil speaks to our Poet of a huge ancient statue that stands
> within Mount Ida in Crete, from a fissure in which statue there is a dripping
> of tears, from which the said streamlet, together with the three other
> infernal rivers, are formed.
> 
> Soon as the charity of native land
> Wrought in my bosom, I the scatter'd leaves
> Collected, and to him restored, who now
> Was hoarse with utterance. To the limit thence
> We came, which from the third the second round
> Divides, and where of justice is display'd
> Contrivance horrible. Things then first seen
> Clearlier to manifest, I tell how next
> A plain we reach'd, that from its sterile bed
> Each plant repell'd. The mournful wood waves round
> Its garland on all sides, as round the wood
> Spreads the sad foss. There, on the very edge,
> Our steps we stay'd. It was an area wide
> Of arid sand and thick, resembling most
> The soil that erst by Cato's foot was trod.
> 
> Vengeance of heaven! Oh! how shouldst thou be fear'd
> By all, who read what here mine eyes beheld.
> 
> Of naked spirits many a flock I saw,
> All weeping piteously, to different laws
> Subjected; for on the earth some lay supine,
> Some crouching close were seated, others paced
> Incessantly around; the latter tribe
> More numerous, those fewer who beneath
> The torment lay, but louder in their grief.
> 
> O'er all the sand fell slowly wafting down
> Dilated flakes of fire, as flakes of snow
> On Alpine summit, when the wind is hush'd.
> As, in the torrid Indian clime, the son
> Of Ammon saw, upon his warrior band
> Descending, solid flames, that to the ground
> Came down; whence he bethought him with his troop
> To trample on the soil; for easier thus
> The vapor was extinguish'd, while alone:
> So fell the eternal fiery flood, wherewith
> The marle glow'd underneath, as under stove
> The viands, doubly to augment the pain.
> Unceasing was the play of wretched hands,
> Now this, now that way glancing, to shake off
> The heat, still falling fresh. I thus began:
> "Instructor! thou who all things overcomest,
> Except the hardy demons that rush'd forth
> To stop our entrance at the gate, say who
> Is yon huge spirit, that, as seems, heeds not
> The burning, but lies writhen in proud scorn,
> As by the sultry tempest immatured?"
> 
> Straight he himself, who was aware I ask'd
> My guide of him, exclaim'd: "Such as I was
> When living, dead such now I am. If Jove
> Weary his workman out, from whom in ire
> He snatch'd the lightnings, that at my last day
> Transfix'd me; if the rest he weary out,
> At their black smithy laboring by turns,
> In Mongibello, while he cries aloud,
> 'Help, help, good Mulciber!' as erst he cried
> In the Phlegraean warfare; and the bolts
> Launch he, full aim'd at me, with all his might;
> He never should enjoy a sweet revenge."
> 
> Then thus my guide, in accent higher raised
> Than I before had heard him: "Capaneus!
> Thou art more punish'd, in that this thy pride
> Lives yet unquench'd: no torment, save thy rage,
> Were to thy fury pain proportion'd full."
> 
> Next turning round to me, with milder lip
> He spake: "This of the seven kings was one,
> Who girt the Theban walls with siege, and held,
> As still he seems to hold, God in disdain,
> And sets His high omnipotence at naught.
> But, as I told him, his despiteful mood
> Is ornament well suits the breast that wears it.
> Follow me now; and look thou set not yet
> Thy foot in the hot sand, but to the wood
> Keep ever close." Silently on we pass'd
> To where there gushes from the forest's bound
> A little brook, whose crimson'd wave yet lifts
> My hair with horror. As the rill, that runs
> From Bulicame,[1] to be portion'd out
> Among the sinful women, so ran this
> Down through the sand; its bottom and each bank
> Stone - built, and either margin at its side,
> Whereon I straight perceived our passage lay.
> 
> [1: A warm medicinal spring near Viterbo; the waters of which, as
> Landino and Vellutelli affirm, passed by a place of ill - fame. Venturi
> conjectures that Dante would imply that it was the scene of licentious
> merriment among those who frequented its baths.]
> 
> "Of all that I have shown thee, since that gate
> We enter'd first, whose threshold is to none
> Denied, naught else so worthy of regard,
> As is this river, has thine eye discern'd,
> O'er which the flaming volley all is quench'd."
> 
> So spake my guide; and I him thence besought,
> That having given me appetite to know,
> The food he too would give, that hunger craved.
> 
> "In midst of ocean," forthwith he began,
> "A desolate country lies, which Crete is named;
> Under whose monarch, in old times, the world
> Lived pure and chaste. A mountain rises there,
> Call'd Ida, joyous once with leaves and streams,
> Deserted now like a forbidden thing.
> It was the spot which Rhea, Saturn's spouse,
> Chose for the secret cradle of her son;
> And better to conceal him, drown'd in shouts
> His infant cries. Within the mount, upright
> An ancient form there stands, and huge, that turns
> His shoulders toward Damiata; and at Rome,
> As in his mirror, looks. Of finest gold
> His head is shaped, pure silver are the breast
> And arms, thence to the middle is of brass,
> And downward all beneath well - temper'd steel,
> Save the right foot of potter's clay, on which
> Than on the other more erect he stands.
> Each part, except the gold, is rent throughout;
> And from the fissure tears distil, which join'd
> Penetrate to that cave. They in their course,
> Thus far precipitated down the rock,
> Form Acheron, and Styx, and Phlegethon;
> Then by this straiten'd channel passing hence
> Beneath e'en to the lowest depth of all,
> Form there Cocytus, of whose lake (thyself
> Shalt see it) I here give thee no account."
> 
> Then I to him: "If from our world this sluice
> Be thus derived; wherefore to us but now
> Appears it at this edge?" He straight replied:
> "The place, thou know'st, is round: and though great part
> Thou have already past, still to the left
> Descending to the nethermost, not yet
> Hast thou the circuit made of the whole orb.
> Wherefore, if aught of new to us appear,
> It needs not bring up wonder in thy looks."
> 
> Then I again inquired: "Where flow the streams
> Of Phlegethon and Lethe? for of one
> Thou tell'st not; and the other, of that shower,
> Thou say'st, is form'd." He answer thus return'd:
> "Doubtless thy questions all well pleased I hear.
> Yet the red seething wave[2] might have resolved
> One thou proposest. Lethe thou shalt see,
> But not within this hollow, in the place
> Whither,[3] to lave themselves, the spirits go,
> Whose blame hath been by penitence removed."
> He added: "Time is now we quit the wood.
> Look thou my steps pursue: the margins give
> Safe passage, unimpeded by the flames;
> For over them all vapor is extinct."
> 
> [2: Phlegethon.]
> 
> [3: The other side of Purgatory]
>
> — *Inferno Canto 14*