Canto VIII/1 As Malebolge can be said to be Dante's Infernal characterisation of Rome (cf. Canto XVIII/3) so Dis, the iron red fortified city, flame-containing and flame-consumed, stands in the scheme of the underworld for Florence. One gets the impression that the poet has consigned his whole city like a Gomorrah into Hell. The emblematic lily is here seen in its original Golden Section outline engulfed by licking tongues of flame that seem to echo and parody its own flame-like divisions. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.