# Inferno Canto  6

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-21 — 1 clipping.*

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> Christianity Index  Divine Comedy Index  Previous: Inferno Canto 5  Next: Inferno Canto 7  
> 
> Canto VI
> 
> Argument
> 
>      On his recovery, the Poet finds himself in the third circle, where the
> gluttonous are punished. Their torment is, to lie in the mire, under a
> continual and heavy storm of hail, snow, and discolored water; Cerberus,
> meanwhile barking over them with his threefold throat, and rending them
> piecemeal. One of these, who on earth was named Ciacco, foretells the
> divisions with which Florence is about to be distracted. Dante proposes a
> question to his guide, who solves it; and they proceed toward the fourth
> circle.
> 
> My sense reviving, that erewhile had droop'd
> With pity for the kindred shades, whence grief
> O'ercame me wholly, straight around I see
> New torments, new tormented souls, which way
> Soe'er I move, or turn, or bend my sight.
> In the third circle I arrive, of showers
> Ceaseless, accursed, heavy and cold, unchanged
> For ever, both in kind and in degree.
> Large hail, discolor'd water, sleety flaw
> Through the dun midnight air stream'd down amain:
> Stank all the land whereon that tempest fell.
> 
> Cerberus, cruel monster, fierce and strange,
> Through his wide threefold throat, barks as a dog
> Over the multitude immersed beneath.
> His eyes glare crimson, black his unctuous beard,
> His belly large, and claw'd the hands, with which
> He tears the spirits, flays them, and their limbs
> Piecemeal disparts. Howling there spread, as curs,
> Under the rainy deluge, with one side
> The other screening, oft they roll them round,
> A wretched, godless crew. When that great worm[1]
> Descried us, savage Cerberus, he oped
> His jaws, and the fangs show'd us; not a limb
> Of him but trembled. Then my guide, his palms
> Expanding on the ground, thence fill'd with earth
> Raised them, and cast it in his ravenous maw.
> E'en as a dog, that yelling bays for food
> His keeper, when the morsel comes, lets fall
> His fury, bent alone with eager haste
> To swallow it; so dropp'd the loathsome cheeks
> Of demon Cerberus, who thundering stuns
> The spirits, that they for deafness wish in vain.
> 
> [1: "When that great worm, descried us . . . he opened his jaws." In
> Canto xxxiv. Lucifer is called "The abhorred worm, that boreth through the
> world."]
> 
> We, o'er the shades thrown prostrate by the brunt
> Of the heavy tempest passing, set our feet
> Upon their emptiness, that substance seem'd.
> 
> They all along the earth extended lay,
> Save one, that sudden raised himself to sit,
> Soon as that way he saw us pass. "O thou!"
> He cried, "who through the infernal shades art led,
> Own, if again thou know'st me. Thou wast framed
> Or ere my frame was broken." I replied:
> "The anguish thou endurest perchance so takes
> Thy form from my remembrance, that it seems
> As if I saw thee never. But inform
> Me thou art, that in a place so sad
> Art set, and in such torment, that although
> Other be greater, none disgusteth more."
> He thus in answer to my words rejoin'd:
> "Thy city, heap'd with envy to the brim,
> Aye, that the measure overflows its bounds,
> Held me in brighter days. Ye citizens
> Were wont to name me Ciacco.[2] For the sin
> Of gluttony, damned vice, beneath this rain,
> E'en as thou seest, I with fatigue am worn:
> Nor I sole spirit in this woe: all these
> Have by like crime incurr'd like punishment."
> 
> [2: "Ciriaco." So called from his inordinate appetite; "ciacco," in
> Italian, signifying a pig. The real name of this glutton has not been
> transmitted to us.]
> 
> No more he said, and I my speech resumed:
> "Ciacco! thy! dire affliction grieves me much,
> Even to tears. But tell me, if thou know'st,
> What shall at length befall the citizens
> of the divided city;[3] whether any
> Just one inhabit there: and tell the cause,
> Whence jarring Discord hath assail'd it thus."
> 
> [3: "The divided city." The city of Florence, divided into the
> Bianchi and Neri factions.]
> 
> He then: "After long striving they will come
> 
> To blood; and the wild party from the woods[4]
> Will chase the other[5] with much injury forth.
> Then it behooves that this must fall,[6] within
> Three solar circles;[7] and the other rise
> By borrow'd force of one, who under shore
> Now rests.[8] It shall a long space hold aloof
> Its forehead, keeping under heavy weight
> The other opprest, indignant at the load,
> And grieving sore. The just are two in number.[9]
> But they neglected. Avarice, envy, pride,
> Three fatal sparks, have set the hearts of all
> On fire." Here ceased the lamentable sound;
> And I continued thus: "Still would I learn
> More from thee, further parley still entreat.
> Of Farinata and Tegghiaio[10] say,
> They who so well deserved; of Giacopo,[11]
> Arrigo, Mosca,[12] and the rest, who bent
> Their minds on working good. Oh! tell me where
> They bide, and to their knowledge let me come.
> For I am prest with keen desire to hear
> If Heaven's sweet cup, or poisonous drug of Hell,
> Be to their lip assign'd." He answer'd straight:
> "These are yet blacker spirits. Various crimes
> Have sunk them deeper in the dark abyss.
> If thou so far descendest, thou mayst see them.
> But to the pleasant world, when thou return'st,
> Of me make mention, I entreat thee, there.
> No more I tell thee, answer thee no more."
> 
> [4: The wild party from the woods." So called, because it was headed
> by Veri de' Cerchi, whose family had lately come into the city from Acona, and
> the woody country of the Val di Nievole.]
> 
> [5: "The other." The opposite party of the Neri, at the head of which
> was Corso Donati.]
> 
> [6: "This must fall." The Bianchi.]
> 
> [7: "Three solar circles." Three years.]
> 
> [8: "Of one, who under shore now rests." Charles of Valois, by whose
> means the Neri were replaced.]
> 
> [9: "The just are two in number." Who these two were, the
> commentators are not agreed. Some understand them to be Dante himself and his
> friend Guido Cavalcanti.]
> 
> [10: "Of Farinata and Tegghiaio." See Canto x. and notes, and Canto
> xvi. and notes.]
> 
> [11: "Giacopo." Giacopo Rusticucci. See Canto xvi. and notes.]
> 
> [12: "Arrigo, Mosca." Of Arrigo, who is said by the commentators to
> have been of the noble family of the Fifanti, no mention afterward occurs.
> Mosca degli Uberti, or de' Lamberti, is introduced in Canto xxviii.]
> 
> This said, his fixed eyes he turn'd askance,
> A little eyed me, then bent down his head,
> And 'midst his blind companions with it fell.
> 
> When thus my guide: "No more his bed he leaves,
> Ere the last angel - trumpet blow. The Power
> Adverse to these shall then in glory come,
> Each one forthwith to his sad tomb repair,
> Resume his fleshly vesture and his form,
> And hear the eternal doom re - echoing rend
> The vault." So pass'd we through that mixture foul
> Of spirits and rain, with tardy steps; meanwhile
> Touching, though slightly, on the life to come.
> For thus I question'd: "Shall these tortures, Sir!
> When the great sentence passes, be increased,
> Or mitigated, or as now severe?"
> 
> He then: "Consult thy knowledge; that decides,
> That, as each thing to more perfection grows,
> It feels more sensibly both good and pain.
> Though ne'er to true perfection may arrive
> This race accurst, yet nearer then, than now,
> They shall approach it." Compassing that path,
> Circuitous we journey'd; and discourse,
> Much more than I relate, between us pass'd:
> Till at the point, whence the steps led below,
> Arrived, there Plutus, the great foe, we found.
>
> — *Inferno Canto  6*