Upon regaining consciousness, which I had lost in this
So suddenly on hearing that tale of such loss
From these two lovers, which had upset and tossed
My temper into such sadness I could barely adjust to it

I immediately witnessed and beheld new torments
And new tormented, surrounding me with no ends
That whichever way I turned, or attempted to move
From horizon to horizon they filled the entirety of my view

I find myself in the third circle of endless pain
The circle in which it perpetually rains
Heavy, cold, brutal, sleet filled, torrential rains
Which never change, but forever remain to descend on the plain

Terrible hail, and putrid stale water are thrown
Pouring forth from the dark air mixed with a horrible snow
Creating a swampy miasma below that chokes
And causes a terrifying stench on the ground that it soaks.

In that area resides this murderous Cerberus
The three headed canine beast whose sole purpose is
To patrol among the sinner souls who lie submerged in this
Murky muck, barking with those ravenous jaws of his

He is gigantic, and each of his rabid heads has deep red eyes,
And a thick black beard sloppy with rancid saliva
He has a fat distended belly, and with claws the size of Swords
he slashes, hacks and flays the spirits sprawled lying on the floor

They themselves howl resoundingly without cease like dogs
Straining in the rain as they are restrained in the bogs
They writhe in pain, turning on one side to shelter the other
These wretched sinners perpetually desperate for cover

When Cerberus turned, heard and perceived us
That bloodcurdling beast, immediately spurred, leaped up
Opened his mouths to expose his fearsome teeth and tusks
His body quivering all over with appetite to eat us up

And my leader, Virgil, as the beast converged
Reached down first and dug his hands deep in the earth
He picked up two fistfuls of dirt from the grounds
And tossed them into Cerberus's three slavering mouths

And just like a famished dog who will not cease barking
Until he gets the food which he is demanding
But becomes quiet the precise instant that he's consuming
For to devour it is the only powerful thing that moves him

This movement was what now occurred to this demon
Cerberus, whose filthy jaws fell mercilessly into eating
Momentarily ceasing from roaring over the dead
Which he does so loudly they wish they were deaf.

We then commenced traversing these shades
Which are packed so tight subdued by the merciless rains
That there was no way we could avoid placing
Our feet straight upon their projected bodies and faces.

They were all laid prostrate, flat in the mud
Except one, who suddenly sat straight up
When he sensed that we were passing before
The location where he was stationed to lay gasping forlorn

"Hey! You there that on this journey below
Is being shown through this Inferno"
He said to me, "recognise me, if you know, for
You were born before my life was over."

And I replied to him, "It's possible that the anguish
With which you have had the misfortune to be branded
Has caused you to vanish from my memory's core
So that it seems I have met you never before

But help me recall, let me know who you are
That have ended up in such a woeful state at last
And with an unpleasant punishing sentence that if others are more excessive
Surely there is none more offensive."

And he said, "Your city of Florence, so rotten with greed
And dripping with envy that it is bursting at the seams
Used to number me among its citizenry
And the life I used to lead there was serene.

The rest of the citizens back home gave me a nickname:
'Fatso' - based on the shape of my frame
And of the sin of gluttony I was found to blame
And to pay for this sin, I am drowned in this rain

And, sad soul, as you can probably see
In committing this transgression, I'm far from solitary
For all of these surrounding me are paying the same horrid fee
For the same immoral deed," And no more he said to me

So I decided to question him, "Fatso, your wretched state
Weighs so upon my mind it tempts tears to my face
But tell me straight, if you are able to detect and relate fate
Sate my desire to know the eventual state that awaits

The citizens of the divided city, Florence;
Also, tell me if any that call it their home are honest
Or honorable, and when they decide to behave like it;
And why such discord resides there, why the city has been claimed by it."

So came his reply then: "The populace of this metropolis
Will, after a long ominous struggle for dominance,
Come to bloodshed, in which the White Guelfs from the sticks
Will drive out the Black faction with much violence and horridness

Then to follow this, the Whites will fall from grace
And the Blacks, within three years of their exile from politics
Will return with all their strength, and go on the attack
Funded by the tyrant who allies with both sides - Pope Boniface

And after that the Black faction will hold its head up proudly
For a while, all the while condemning their enemies roundly
To various indignations, reprisals and strict boundaries,
However much they weep and cry, and no matter how loudly

There are two honest people in Florence, and no one understands them;
For Envy, Arrogance and Avarice work in tandem
As the three main sparks of motivation and action
That inspire all the citizens' hearts with any passion."

And with that he ceased, Tears streaking his cheeks, weeping
So I beseeched him, "Fatso, I have a deep seated
Greedy need to feed on more of these teachings,
So if it pleases, I wish you to keep speaking:

Tell me the fate of Florentines from earlier times
Like Farinata degli Uberti, leader of the Ghibbellines
Tegghiaio of the Guelf side; Iacopo Rusticucci;
Arrigo and Mosca, and others who attempted good deeds

I'd like to know where they've ended up, if you can tell
For I have insatiable desire to know their fate as well
Whether they in Heaven's sweetness dwell
Or they drown down in the venomous pits deep in Hell

And so Fatso did tell, "they found themselves dragged low
To dwell in hell's cells forever among the black souls
A different sin than mine weighs them down deeper
And if you descend that far, you're bound to meet them

But when you return to the sweet world of the living
I beg of you, do not forget all that I have given
Bring me to the minds of all people you have chance to
No more shall I tell you, no more will I answer."

Then his eyes went blank and he stared for an instant
At my face, but then turned away without blinking
And he lay down again, in the mud in his small space
Squeezed in between all the other blind rotund corpses

And Virgil returning thus having distracted Cerberus
Wiping mud from his hands, said, "He will stir not
Or move around until the sound of the angelic trumpet resounds
When the potentate of judgement is coming down

And each of the spirits of the departed will move
And crawl once more to the place of his tomb
And will resume inhabiting his corpse and emerge to see
And hear the divine judgement which echoes through eternity"

So as we walked on gingerly, for each of our steps were
Squelching into the depths of this slimy filthy texture
Of this festering mixture of mud, rain and semi solid corpulent souls
We conversed a little of what the future would hold

So I asked, "Master, these torments that are on display
I wonder what will happen after Judgement Day.
Will the punishments increase in suffering pain
Or be less intense, or burn just the same?"

And his reply was, "Remember your science,
That you derived from Aristotle, now you may apply it
For it describes that the more perfect an object
The more intensely feelings of pain or pleasure will be upon it.

So even though these souls, guilty of such malefaction
Can, in fact, never attain true perfection
Even they, when the hereafter comes around
Will be closer to perfection than they are now."

Round and round on that road we traveled perpetually
And we talked of much more of which I'll never speak
And as we reached the place where the descent is steep
We found Plutus, the great enemy.