Canto XXVI opens with a passionate address to Dante’s native Florence, saying that there are so many Florentines populating Hell because of the terrible actions of its citizens. Dante prophesizes that a day of mourning will come to Florence, and not a day too soon.
The poets move on to the eighth chasm where Dante sees thousands of little flames, reminding him of fireflies on a hillside. He leans so far forward on the ledge of the bridge that he almost falls into the chasm. Virgil says that each of the flames contains a sinner, which is hidden from view by the fire surrounding it. These are the Evil Counselors, people that used their power and their intellect for evil. Dante remarks that he already figured out that each flame contained a sinner, and that he wishes to speak with a great flame that splits away into two horns of fire. This two-pronged flame conceals Ulysses and Diomede, who are in Hell because of three evil deeds: the ambush of the Trojan Horse; the weeping of Deidamia, the King’s daughter whom Achilles abandoned; and the matter of the theft of Pallas Athena’s statue at the Palladium. Because Dante is Italian, Virgil suggests that he speak with them instead, because they are Greek and may scorn Dante’s manner of speaking.
Virgil speaks to the flame and Ulysses, who makes up the larger part of the flame, begins to tell the story of his death. He had wanderlust and convinced a few of his friends to take a long journey with him. They sailed for five months beyond Hercules’ Pillars and came to a giant mountain. As they sailed towards it, a storm broke and sunk the ship.
At the opening of Canto XXVII, Virgil allows the flame of Ulysses and Diomede to depart, and he turns his attention to another flame that wishes to tell his tale. This flame contains the soul of Count Guido da Montefeltro, who wants to know news from the upper world about his native city, Romagna. Dante tells him that Romagna is never without war and goes on to give him details of the recent past.
Dante wishes to know this shade’s name, and mistaking Dante for a spirit as well, the shade answers with a bit of his history. He was a man of arms who hoped to make amends for his connection with arms by joining the Franciscans and becoming a friar. The “Great Priest” (Pope Boniface VIII), however, asked him for counsel about how to destroy his enemies. Thus, the shade was thrust back into his old sins. After he died, St. Francis came to retrieve him, but a devil said that this shade’s name was written in his book because the shade resolved to give false counsel.
After hearing the spirit’s story, the poets move to the ninth pit, where the Sowers of Discord reside.
