Dante wants to know about the stream, and Virgil tells him that the stream begins in Crete with the tears of an ancient giant that flow down into the hollow of the mountain's pit where he lives. The poets walk in silence at the perimeter of the sand until they come to a small rill, a little brook of red water, reminding Dante of a stream in Florence that prostitutes use. For his defiance and heresy, he is confined here for eternity. Capaneus scorned God when living and scorns him still. Virgil chastises the soul violently, calling it by its name, Capaneus, and then tells Dante that the soul is one of the seven that laid siege to Thebes. This is Capaneus, killed by a thunderbolt thrown from the hand of the angry Zeus. And if Zeus had thunderbolts to hurl at him forever, he would never succeed in subduing this shade. Hearing the question, the soul replies that he is the same now as he was when he was alive - still unconquered and still blasphemous. They try to save themselves from this rain of fire by waving it away with their hands.ĭante notices one of the souls lying on the ground raging, and asks Virgil whom the soul is. Flakes of fire fall on this desert, making it burn and increasing the pain of these spirits who were being punished for their violence against God. Many souls are on this plain, some lying down, some crouching, and some wandering restlessly. Here is the beginning of a desolate plain, and Dante looks fearfully about him. Dante gathers the leaves and returns them to the bush, and the poets pass to the other edge of the wood.
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