I understood that unto such a torment
The carnal malefactors were condemned,
Who reason subjugate to appetite.
And as the wings of starlings bear them on
In the cold season in large band and full,
So doth that blast the spirits maledict;

It hither, thither, downward, updward, drives them;
No hope doth comfort them for ever more,
Not of repose, but even of lesser pain.

To the second circle of Hell are condemned those guilty of allowing lust to overthrow reason. There is no rest for these, beaten on endlessly by the winds of a terrible, violent storm.