“Gloom of hell, or night bereft of every planet under a barren sky … never made a veil to my sight so thick nor of stuff so harsh, … as that smoke which covered us there, so that it did not let the eye stay open; wherefore my wise and trusty escort drew to my side and offered me his shoulder. Even as a blind man goes behind his guide that he may not stray or knock against what might injure or … kill him, so I went through that bitter and foul air, listening to my leader, who kept saying, ‘Take care that you are not cut off from me.'” (Purg. XVI.1-15). Translated by Charles S. Singleton.    –This Next