sweeps them on, and Dante, hearing their pitiful moans, swoons from
compassion.

_Canto VI._ Recovering his senses, Dante finds Virgil has meantime
transferred him to the third circle, a region where chill rains ever
fall, accompanied by hail, sleet, and snow. Here all guilty of
gluttony are rent and torn by Cerberus, main ruler of this circle.
Flinging a huge fistful of dirt into the dog's gaping jaws to prevent
his snapping at them, Virgil leads Dante quickly past this
three-headed monster, to a place where they tread on the shades which
pave the muddy ground. One of these, sitting up, suddenly inquires of
Dante whether he does not recognize him, adding that he is the
notorious Florentine glutton Ciacco. Fancying this shade may possess
some insight into the future, Dante inquires what is to become of his
native city, and learns that one political party will drive out the
other, only to fall in its turn three years later. The glutton adds
that only two just men are left in Florence, and, when Dante asks what
has become of his friends, tells him he will doubtless meet them in
the various circles of Hades, should he continue his downward course.

Then the spirit begs that, on returning to the "pleasant world," Dante
will recall him to his friends' memory, and, closing his eyes, sinks
back among the other victims, all of whom are more or less blind.
Vouchsafing the information that this sinner will not rise again "ere
the last angel trumpet blow," Virgil leads Dante over the foul mixture
of shades and mud, explaining that, although the accursed can never
hope to attain perfection, they are not entirely debarred from
improvement.

_Canto VII._ Talking thus, the two travellers descend to the fourth