The final canto of Inferno opens, ex abrupto, with one of the most powerful images in the whole of the canticle: a mockery of the 6th-century hymn 'Vexilla regis':
'Vexilla regis prodeunt inferni verso di noi; però dinanzi mira», disse ’l maestro mio, «se tu ’l discerni».
“Vexilla regis prodeunt inferni toward us; and therefore keep your eyes ahead,” my m…