[634] _But Malebolge, etc._: Each Bolgia in turn lies at a lower level than the one before it, and consequently the inner side of each dividing ridge or wall is higher than the outer; or, to put it otherwise, in each Bolgia the wall they come to last--that nearest the centre of the Inferno, is lower than that they first reach--the one enclosing the Bolgia. [635] _The topmost stone_: The stone that had formed the beginning of the arch at this end of it. [636] _A loftier flight_: When he ascends the Mount of Purgatory. [637] _Steeper far, etc._: Rougher and steeper than the rib of rock they followed till they had crossed the Fifth Bolgia. They are now travelling along a different spoke of the wheel. [638] _The arch, etc._: He has gone on hiding his weariness till he is on the top of the arch that overhangs the Seventh Bolgia--that in which thieves are punished. [639] _Front the bridge's head_: Further on they climb up again (_Inf._ xxvi. 13) by the projecting stones which now supply them with the means of descent. It is a disputed point how far they do descend. Clearly it is further than merely from the bridge to the lower level of the wall dividing the Seventh from the Eighth Bolgia; but not so far as to the ground of the moat. Most likely the stones jut forth at the angle formed by the junction of the bridge and the rocky wall. On one of the lowest of these they find a standing-place whence they can see clearly what is in the Bolgia. [640] _Heliotrope_: A stone supposed to make the bearer of it invisible. [641] _Their hands, etc._: The sinners in this Bolgia are the thieves, not the violent robbers and highwaymen but those crime involves a betrayal of trust. After all their cunning thefts they are naked now; and, though here is nothing to steal, hands are firmly bound behind them. [642] _The ashes, etc._: The sufferings of the thieves, if looked closely into, will be found appropriate to their sins. They would fain but cannot steal themselves away, and in addition to the constant terror of being found out they are subject to pains the essence of which consists in the deprivation--the theft from them--of their unsubstantial bodies, which are all that they now have to lose. In the case of this victim the deprivation is only temporary. [643] _The Phoenix_: Dante here borrows very directly from Ovid (_Metam._ xv.). [644] _Vanni Fucci_: Natural son of a Pistoiese noble and a poet of some merit, who bore a leading part in the ruthless feuds of Blacks and Whites which distracted Pistoia towards the close of the thirteenth century. [645] _And ask, etc._: Dante wishes to find out why Fucci is placed among the thieves, and not in the circle of the violent. The question is framed so as to compel confession of a crime for which the sinner had not been condemned in life; and he flushes with rage at being found among the cowardly thieves.