第六篇我看见那两个亲属的痛苦，不觉一阵心酸，竟昏晕过去；醒来睁眼一看，我的四周景物已变，新的刑罚、新的灵魂，触目皆是。
我已到了第三圈，那里永远下着令人咒骂的寒冷的大雨．这里的环境终古如此；没有变化，在昏暗的空气里，又下着大块冰雹和雪球，雨水臭恶不堪，因此地面污浊，秽气难闻。刻尔勃路斯是一个凶恶可怕的怪物，有三个头，像狗一样地向着那些幽灵狂吠。他的眼睛满是红丝，胡须油光漆黑，肚子大，手有爪，抓着了幽灵，便把他们撕得四分五裂。雨雪冰雹，不断地打在他们身上，全身颤抖悲啼不止。他们唯一减轻痛苦的方法是在地上来回翻身，左右更迭受灾。
当怪物刻尔勃路斯看见我们的时候，他张大了血盆大口，露出他的长牙；他的四肢身体顿时紧张起来。我的引路人就俯下身子，在地上取了一把泥块，对准他的嘴里投去。他和狗一般，狺狺狂吠，无非为的食料；现在嘴里既然有了东西，也就默然无声了；不然的话，他就会咆哮如雷，一班幽灵的耳朵都要给他震聋。
我们从被雨打的灵魂群里走过，他们都躺在地上，我们虽然拣着空地把脚踏下去，总是要碰到他们身体。在我们从他旁边走过的时候，其中只有一个，忽然坐了起来。他对我说：“哦！你到地狱里来了；你认识我么？你出生之时．我还没有去世呢。”我回答道：“你受了磨难，你的容貌我记不清了，我似乎没有看见过你。你叫什么名字，犯了什么罪，才放到这块悲惨的地方，受到这样残酷的刑罚，虽然还有更厉害的，但是你所受到的已经很承受了。”他对我说：“你的城，充满了嫉妒和怨恨，已经到了不可收拾的地步，我就生长在那里。大家都叫我恰科，因为口腹之欲，犯了饕餮罪、就得着这个雨淋的刑罚。犯这种罪的还有其他人，同样的罪都得着同样的刑罚。”于是他的话停住了。我答道：“恰科，你的不幸压在我的心上，使我难过；但是，如果能够，请告诉我：这个分裂的城将要变得怎样？是否城里面还有几个正人君子？为什么要分裂？”他对我说：“长久的争论以后，他们将要流血，森林派要把别的一派赶出去。三年以内，这一派又要打倒，别的一派依仗了一个人的力量抬起头来。他们长久地扬眉吐气，把他们的敌人踩在脚底下，虽然敌人已经含羞忍辱，哭哭啼啼，他们也不生怜惜。只有两个是正人君子除外，骄傲，嫉妒，贪婪是三个火星，它们能使人心爆炸。”他可怜的声调就停止在这里，我又问他道：“我还有几件事情要请教你。法利那塔和台嘉佑是很高贵的；卢斯蒂库奇，阿里格和莫斯卡，还有其他有意为善之人；请你告诉我：他们究竟在那里？在地狱受刑呢，还是在天国的享福呢？”他对我说：“他们都在更痛苦之中，种种不同的罪恶，使他们降到深渊之底；你只要走下去，就可以看见他们。你要是回到阳光之下，请把我的信息带给那些活着的人；我不再多说了，不再多回答了。”说罢，他抬头呆呆地向我看一下，就俯下头去，立刻倒在地上，和其他灵魂躺在一起了。
我的引路人对我说：“直待天使的号筒吹起、他是不会再醒了。当无上权威到临的时候，每个灵魂都要再看见他凄凉的坟墓，再归附他的肉体，回复他的原形，起来听那永远响着的最大判决。”
我们从雨淋的幽灵群里慢步走过，我们简略讨论到未来生活的问题。我说：“老师，请问你在最大判决以后，这些灵魂要增加痛苦呢，还是减轻呢，还是仍旧如此。”他答道：“请你回想到你的书本罢，那书本上面说：一样东西愈加完美，愈加感觉着愉快和痛苦。虽然这些被诅咒的人从不会达到真正的完美，但是他们在判决以后要比在判决以前较近于完美了。”
我们在那里兜着圈子，说的话很多，不必记述了。我们到了一处，就从那里开始下降，我们遇到普鲁托，一个大敌人。
With pity for the kindred shades, whence grief
O'ercame me wholly, straight around I see
New torments, new tormented souls, which way
Soe'er I move, or turn, or bend my sight.
In the third circle I arrive, of show'rs
Ceaseless, accursed, heavy, and cold, unchang'd
For ever, both in kind and in degree.
Large hail, discolour'd water, sleety flaw
Through the dun midnight air stream'd down amain:
Stank all the land whereon that tempest fell.
Cerberus, cruel monster, fierce and strange,
Through his wide threefold throat barks as a dog
Over the multitude immers'd beneath.
His eyes glare crimson, black his unctuous beard,
His belly large, and claw'd the hands, with which
He tears the spirits, flays them, and their limbs
Piecemeal disparts. Howling there spread, as curs,
Under the rainy deluge, with one side
The other screening, oft they roll them round,
A wretched, godless crew. When that great worm
Descried us, savage Cerberus, he op'd
His jaws, and the fangs show'd us; not a limb
Of him but trembled. Then my guide, his palms
Expanding on the ground, thence filled with earth
Rais'd them, and cast it in his ravenous maw.
E'en as a dog, that yelling bays for food
His keeper, when the morsel comes, lets fall
His fury, bent alone with eager haste
To swallow it; so dropp'd the loathsome cheeks
Of demon Cerberus, who thund'ring stuns
The spirits, that they for deafness wish in vain.
We, o'er the shades thrown prostrate by the brunt
Of the heavy tempest passing, set our feet
Upon their emptiness, that substance seem'd.
They all along the earth extended lay
Save one, that sudden rais'd himself to sit,
Soon as that way he saw us pass. "O thou!"
He cried, "who through the infernal shades art led,
Own, if again thou know'st me. Thou wast fram'd
Or ere my frame was broken." I replied:
"The anguish thou endur'st perchance so takes
Thy form from my remembrance, that it seems
As if I saw thee never. But inform
Me who thou art, that in a place so sad
Art set, and in such torment, that although
Other be greater, more disgustful none
Can be imagin'd." He in answer thus:
"Thy city heap'd with envy to the brim,
Ay that the measure overflows its bounds,
Held me in brighter days. Ye citizens
Were wont to name me Ciacco. For the sin
Of glutt'ny, damned vice, beneath this rain,
E'en as thou see'st, I with fatigue am worn;
Nor I sole spirit in this woe: all these
Have by like crime incurr'd like punishment."
No more he said, and I my speech resum'd:
"Ciacco! thy dire affliction grieves me much,
Even to tears. But tell me, if thou know'st,
What shall at length befall the citizens
Of the divided city; whether any just one
Inhabit there: and tell me of the cause,
Whence jarring discord hath assail'd it thus?"
He then: "After long striving they will come
To blood; and the wild party from the woods
Will chase the other with much injury forth.
Then it behoves, that this must fall, within
Three solar circles; and the other rise
By borrow'd force of one, who under shore
Now rests. It shall a long space hold aloof
Its forehead, keeping under heavy weight
The other oppress'd, indignant at the load,
And grieving sore. The just are two in number,
But they neglected. Av'rice, envy, pride,
Three fatal sparks, have set the hearts of all
On fire." Here ceas'd the lamentable sound;
And I continu'd thus: "Still would I learn
More from thee, farther parley still entreat.
Of Farinata and Tegghiaio say,
They who so well deserv'd, of Giacopo,
Arrigo, Mosca, and the rest, who bent
Their minds on working good. Oh! tell me where
They bide, and to their knowledge let me come.
For I am press'd with keen desire to hear,
If heaven's sweet cup or poisonous drug of hell
Be to their lip assign'd." He answer'd straight:
"These are yet blacker spirits. Various crimes
Have sunk them deeper in the dark abyss.
If thou so far descendest, thou mayst see them.
But to the pleasant world when thou return'st,
Of me make mention, I entreat thee, there.
No more I tell thee, answer thee no more."
This said, his fixed eyes he turn'd askance,
A little ey'd me, then bent down his head,
And 'midst his blind companions with it fell.
When thus my guide: "No more his bed he leaves,
Ere the last angel-trumpet blow. The Power
Adverse to these shall then in glory come,
Each one forthwith to his sad tomb repair,
Resume his fleshly vesture and his form,
And hear the eternal doom re-echoing rend
The vault." So pass'd we through that mixture foul
Of spirits and rain, with tardy steps; meanwhile
Touching, though slightly, on the life to come.
For thus I question'd: "Shall these tortures, Sir!
When the great sentence passes, be increas'd,
Or mitigated, or as now severe?"
He then: "Consult thy knowledge; that decides
That as each thing to more perfection grows,
It feels more sensibly both good and pain.
Though ne'er to true perfection may arrive
This race accurs'd, yet nearer then than now
They shall approach it." Compassing that path
Circuitous we journeyed, and discourse
Much more than I relate between us pass'd:
Till at the point, where the steps led below,
Arriv'd, there Plutus, the great foe, we found.