Commentary Inf XIV 1-6

The first tercet concludes the action of the preceding canto. This is a particularly egregious example of the way in which Dante deliberately avoids keeping his canto borders 'neat' (see C.Inf.XIII.1-3). The following tercet, on the other hand, would have made a 'proper' beginning to the fourteenth canto, marking, as it does, the border between the second ring of the seventh Circle (violence against selves) and the third (violence against God). Here we shall witness (as indeed we have done before) the dreadful 'art' of God in carrying out His just revenge upon sinners, in this case those who sinned directly against Him.