At the start of Canto 6, the pilgrim again awakens in the next circle of hell, the third circle. In this circle, the souls are subjected to eternal heavy rain. It is revealed they are cursed to be in this circle because of the gluttony in life. Cerberus is also here, a creature from Greek mythology that is a dog-like animal with three heads. When Virgil manages to distract Cerberus, the pilgrim begins talking to one of the souls, who says, like Dante, he is from Florence. The pilgrim asks if he knows what will become of their city, and names a group of men he sees as good. The man, who Dante names as Ciacco, answers that all the people the pilgrim asked about are even further down in the circles of Hell.

This Canto introduces us to Dante’s perspective of Florence, which Ciacco claims is full of greed and envy. Canto 6 illustrates that Dante does not only very greed as related to money or food, but also power.

Instead of feeling dislike towards Ciacco, the pilgrim appears to only pity him, even after Ciacco has revealed it was greed that sent him there. Dante feels sadness towards Ciacco, rather than resentment.

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