The Gluttons in Eternal Rain — Divine Comedy

Cerberus barks over souls lying in filth, and the gluttons take endless cold rain because they could never stop taking. Private appetite becomes public damage: the lesson is not that one vice stays personal, but that unchecked hunger in many people sets a whole city on fire, and quieting the monster only buys you passage to the next mouth. Virgil throws earth into Cerberus's jaws and the path clears. Dante walks on over the shades beneath his feet. An old Florentine sits up in the slush: Ciacco, whom appetite has reduced to his name. He says Florence will come to blood, exile, and rule by borrowed force. Only two just men remain, and nobody listens. Avarice, envy, and pride, he says, are the three sparks that set every heart on fire. Dante asks where the great Florentines have gone. Deeper, for worse crimes. Ciacco begs to be remembered among the living, then his eyes slide away and he falls back among the blind. Virgil says at the last trumpet these souls will wear flesh again and feel judgment sharper, not softer. Torment grows as they approach whatever perfection they can never reach. They circle through the rain until the steps down reveal Plutus, the great foe, waiting at the next gate.