Outhne: Inferno Xxiv

the elaborate opening simile: peasant and hoarfrost

Virgil, back and prudently calculating, embraces Dante

simile: a provident man

the difficult ascent out of the sixth bolgia

Dante’s arrival and temporary repose

Virgil urges Dante upward and onward

Dante’s forced assurances of his readiness

along the ridge over the seventh bolgia

Dante’s curiosity about a voice from below

his desire to find its source and Virgil’s assent

over the bridge to the edge of the eighth bolgia and a closer look into the seventh

the serpents and the sinners

“death and resurrection” of Vanni Fucci

simile: a man possessed or in epileptic fit

exclamation of the poet: God’s power

Virgil begets response from Vanni

Dante’s further request of Vanni through Virgil

Vanni’s confession

Vanni’s prophecy of Dante’s political misery