“He ceased. Each with her nails was clawing her breast; self-smitten with their palms, they screamed so shrill, that I, for dread, close to the poet press’d”
. . . . .
Dante is alarmed and asks his guide, in a roundabout way, if anyone from the upper circles has ever made this descent. Virgil answers that he was once sent to summon a shade from the circle of Judas, far below here, so he knows the way well. Three Furies (Greek and Roman Mythology. the three terrible female spirits with snaky hair (Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera) who punish the doers of unavenged crimes) spring into view, saying that they should summon Medusa (Greek Mythology. one of the three Gorgons, slain by Perseus, who turns mortal humans to stone if they look at her) to turn Dante to stone. Virgil cautions Dante to hide his eyes against the beast, placing his own hands over Dante's eyes. Dante sees a countryside of sorrow, a huge graveyard with uneven tombs covering the plain. The tombs are raised to a red heat by flames outside of every wall. Moaning and sounds of torment come from the open tombs. Dante asks Virgil what sinners reside in the tombs, and Virgil answers that they are the arch-heretics of all cults and their followers. Allegorically, this episode is another reminder that human reason can't achieve salvation without Divine aid. Virgil, as reason, can't understand sin committed in full knowledge and with deliberate will.