The Tenth Ditch, the Falsifiers

In the tenth the falsifiers lie in four diseases and almost nobody gets up: the alchemists scratch themselves in heaps, the dropsical do not move, the fevered steam like hands washed in winter (Inf. XXX 92), and only the falsifiers of persons run and bite (Inf. XXX 27-28). They run in jerks because they are ill, and they are the last thing that chases you before the well.

It is the tenth and last district of the pit, the narrowest and the closest to the central well. Master Adam is here, who struck florins with three carats of alloy (Inf. XXX 73-90) and is still smelting in front of his furnace: it is the only counter in the whole chapter, and the last place in the game where anything is bought. That furnace is also the only fire in the ditch, and whoever arrives without a light does his bargaining staring at a black wall.