Outhne: Inferno Xvi

the sound of the waterfall at the border ahead: bees

three shades see that Dante is Florentine and stop him

their wounds: to remember them pains the poet even now

Virgil’s insistence that these are worthy of courtesy

the three make a wheel of themselves

simile: wrestlers

one of them, admitting his sins, asks who Dante is; he identifies Guido Guerra, Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, and himself (Iacopo Rusticucci)

Dante’s reaction is to want to embrace them

Dante’s affection for them; he is on his way to heaven

Rusticucci: do valor and courtesy still abide in Florence, or is Guglielmo Borsiere right?

Dante: he is right; their stunned reaction

the three: Dante a truth-teller; they ask him to speak of them once he returns to earth

they withdraw; Dante and Virgil continue on

the roaring waterfall

simile: the Acquacheta

Dante’s cord and Virgil’s challenge

Dante’s thought and Virgil’s “reading” of his mind

Dante’s oath to his readers (third address in the poem) and the figure (Geryon) rising from the depths