Commentary Inf XXII 1-12

The similetic array of signals for troop movements in battle or for the start of a sporting event, a small catalogue of things and techniques domestic and foreign, is, we remember, Dante's way of responding by contraries ('I've never seen anything to equal this') to the demonic fart that concluded the last canto and ushered Dante off on his journey under the guidance of the decuria, Malacoda's squad, now under the control of Barbariccia. Vv. 4-5 are generally taken to refer to the battle of Campaldino, in 1289. See C.Inf.XXI.95.

This, even if it is not a 'true simile,' is the first of eleven canto-opening similes in the poem. See [Inf XXIV 1-18]; [Inf XXX 1-27]; [Inf XXXI 1-6]; [Purg VI 1-12]; [Purg XVII 1-12]; [Par IV 1-9]; [Par XVII 1-6]; [Par XXIII 1-12]; [Par XXIX 1-9]; [Par XXXI 1-15].