Canto XV
The river exhales a dark cloud that quenches the flames raining down on it, and so the two poets follow the bank of the stream across the fiery plain. A group of wraiths passes near them and one recognizes Dante and grabs his skirt. Dante recognizes him to be Brunetto Latini, a member of the Guelf party of Florence and a poet who influenced Dante himself.
They converse and Brunetto warns Dante to beware of the people of Florence. "But that ungrateful, malignant people, who of old came down from Fiesole, and still savors of the mountain and the rock, will make itself an enemy to thee for thy good deeds; and there is cause: for amongst the tart sorbtrees, it befits not the sweet fig to fructify." Canto XV, pg. 82 Dante laments the state of his role model, Brunetto, as they reminisce of the past and discuss the future. However, soon Brunetto must rejoin his companions in their tortuous race.
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