Dante and Virgil slide down the cliff along a rockfall to reach the seventh circle. On the way down, they pass by the Minotaur, a half-man, half-bull monstrosity.
The two poets arrive along the banks of the Phlegethon, a river of boiling blood in which the 'violent against others' are submerged. Arrows rain down upon these damned souls from either shore, shot by the Centaurs who surveil this area.
The Centaurs at first deny the poets a safe passage, but they relent upon hearing Virgil’s calm explanation of the reasoning behind Dante’s specially sanctioned journey.
Virgil’s words prompt one of the centaurs, Nessus, to offer his assistance, and with his help Dante and his guide reach the river’s opposite shore.
The middle region of the seventh circle appears to be a large forest. Dante and Virgil advance cautiously through the trees, all the while privy to the lamentations of the unseen damned. Dante soon learns that the trees themselves are the souls of the damned in this region, who are punished in this way for having committed suicide.
In the illumination, Virgil exhorts Dante to break a small branch off a tree. The blood and long-suffering voice that flow from the wound reveal the tree to be a soul who committed suicide. - Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 40.1, f. 42v.
EXCERPT OF THE COMEDY: Inf. 13, 31-39
While Dante speaks with one of these tree-shaped souls, two human-shaped souls dash by, trying and failing to escape the pack of hellhounds chasing and snapping at them. These two damned souls, who were squanderers in life, trample the tree-shaped souls of suicides as they run from the hounds.
Beyond the wood of suicides lies the final region of the seventh circle, a desert plain. A rain of fire falls upon the sand, scorching the souls of blasphemers -- the violent against God -- who serve punishment flat on their backs under the falling flames.
EXCERPT OF THE COMEDY: Inf. 15, 25-33
Proceeding past the blasphemers as they continue their journey, Dante and Virgil subsequently encounter another group of souls punished in this desert, the sodomites or 'violent against nature'. One of these damned figures stretches out a hand toward Dante, who is suddenly dumbfounded and deeply saddened to recognize his old teacher, Brunetto Latini. Walking alongside Latini just beyond reach of the fiery rain, Dante confesses why he has undertaken his unusual journey.
Among the sodomites roaming the desert under a rain of fire, Brunetto Latini draws Dante’s attention. - Dante Alighieri, La Divina Commedia, imagini di Amos Nattini, Milan, Officine dell’Istituto nazionale dantesco, 1939, plate 15. McGill Rare Books and Special Collections, elf PQ4302 F23.
The Phlegethon river winds through the seventh circle to eventually cascade over the edge of an abyss leading to the eighth. Arriving at the edge of this abyss themselves, the two poets halt to await the infernal beast that Virgil explains will assist with their descent into the next circle.
Geryon soon emerges from the darkness. With a man’s face, a snake’s body, a scorpion’s tail, beastly legs, and broad wings, he is a terrifying sight to behold, and Dante cannot help but fear him.
Before mounting the monster’s back -- and with much persuading from Virgil -- Dante addresses a group of usurers, the 'violent against art', who sit along the edge of the abyss under falling flames. Among them, Dante notices several Florentines with their family crests emblazoned upon the pouches tied around their necks.
Finding his courage, Dante finally joins Virgil on Geryon’s back. The monster then plunges back into the darkness to deposit the two travellers at the edge of the eighth circle.
In the illumination, Dante and Virgil ride on Geryon’s back. Three Florentine usurers sit below. - Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 40.1, f. 56r.
EXCERPT OF THE COMEDY: Inf 16, 127-136