side, Brunetto in his turn questions Dante and learns how and why he
has come down here, ere he predicts that in spite of persecutions the
poet will ultimately attain great fame.

_Canto XVI._ Reaching a spot where the stream they are following
suddenly thunders down into the eighth circle, Dante beholds three
spirits running toward him, whirling round one another "in one
restless wheel," while loudly exclaiming his garb denotes he is their
fellow countryman! Gazing into their fire-scarred faces, Dante learns
these are three powerful Guelfs; and when they crave tidings of their
native city, he tells them all that has recently occurred there.
Before vanishing these spirits piteously implore him to speak of them
to mortals on his return to earth, and leave Dante and Virgil to
follow the stream to the verge of the abyss. There Virgil loosens the
rope knotted around Dante's waist, and, casting one end of it down
into the abyss, intimates that what he is awaiting will soon appear. A
moment later a monster rises from the depths, climbing hand over hand
up the rope.

_Canto XVII._ This monster is Geryon, the personification of fraud,
and therefore a mixture of man, beast, and serpent. When he reaches
the upper ledge, Virgil bargains with him to carry them down, while
Dante converses with neighboring sorrowful souls, who are perched on
the top of the cliff and hide their faces in their hands. All these
spirits wear purses around their necks, because as usurers while on
earth they lived on ill-gotten gains. Not daring to keep his guide
waiting, Dante leaves these sinners, and hurries back just as Virgil
is taking his seat on the monster's back. Grasping the hand stretched
out to him, Dante then timorously mounts beside his guide.