Chapter 5 · MalebolgeflameCircle VIIIBeing built
Ulysses
The two-horned flame of the eighth ditch, the only one that splits at the top and speaks.
La sola fiamma del fossato che abbia due corna: dentro ci stanno in due, e uno dei due ha condotto una nave oltre il segno. Fa la spola sotto la campata rotta, e quello che le sta sopra si vede.
Revealswhat the two-horned flame does when you come near.
In the eighth every counsellor of fraud is shut inside a flame, and one alone has two horns because there are two men inside it: Ulysses and Diomedes. In the canto it is the flame that moves and speaks, and the game leaves it that right: the floor lies six metres below the level of the bridge, and when somebody comes within sixteen metres the flame climbs until it is within reach.
It is the only ditch in the chapter that gives light of its own, and that does two things: you see how deep a ditch is, and you learn to trust a light that is not yours. What Ulysses says explains nothing about what you are doing. They are the words of a man who put to sea past the permitted mark, said to somebody walking above a ditch of fire.
The numbers
| What | How much |
|---|---|
| Range at which it starts to climb | 16 m |
| Depth of the floor below the bridge | 6 m |
| Its pace along the span | 0.9 m/s |
Links
- Found in
- The Eighth Ditch, the Flames
- See also
- The unlit candle, The candle
- Named by
- The candle, The Eighth Ditch, the Flames