IX/3 The arrival of the angelic messenger, since Dante has warned us to be on our guard for cryptic allegory, can be interpreted as a veiled reference to the Second Coming: hence by a parallel process of allegory the NO ENTRY sign (that made up the doors of Dis in CantoVIII/4) now opens to reveal the figure of Christ bearing a wand. The band of the traffic sign is now the bar of the Cross. The figure of Christ amidst the swirling vapours is that of the much disputed Shroud, an image rather like the spurious `death mask' of Dante which has nonetheless a compelling authority. The face on the Turin Shroud is quoted for the first time: it appears three times in the course of the book, in the initial illustration of Canto XVII and in the last Canto where it has a curious role in the portrayal of Satan. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.