• Canto begins with Dante and Virgil unable to enter the Gates of Dis. They need Divine Aid to do. Dante grew pale because of Virgil's failure.
• The three Furies (Megaera, Alecto, and Tisiphone) appear nearby at each of the towers of Dis and call for Medusa to turn the poets to stone.
• At this moment, the Heavenly Messenger arrives. At his arrival, the souls and demons quickly flee and with just a touch of the gate, it had opened with no resistance.
• The messenger then leaves just the same as how he entered.
• Dante and Virgil now enter the City if Dis and what they see is a vast countryside full of tombs, the lids by the side. Inside the tombs are flames which burn the heretics.