Dante's Inferno, Cantos Sixteen through Nineteen

Canto Sixteen:
1. There is a wheel in this level of Hell made up of warriors. It represents fortune and unity. All of the people in Hell are united in their bad fortune because they're in Hell.

Canto Seventeen:
1. "Each had a purse...eyes consumed." (lines 49-51). Every person has a purse around their neck, but they are doomed to want everyone else's purses for eternity. This is the level of Hell for pimps and cheats, so it makes sense that they are doomed to want what they can never have. It's another example of the sense of humor of the powers that be.

Canto Eighteen:
1. In this part of Hell, liars and avaricious people are basically covered in shit and constantly being shit upon. This makes sense because the excrement represents their lies and the material things they longed for in their earthly life. It suggests that the things they wanted so much didn't matter at all, and now it's being thrown at them over and over again.

Canto Nineteen:
1. In this canto Virgil urges Dante to lie about his identity. This suggests that there are more dangers in this area of Hell as opposed to the rest of the areas, which were apparently relatively safe for Dante. Here, as in the other levels, there are people who Dante had conflicts with. It would seem that in this area of Hell, Virgil might not be able to stop the souls if they choose to hurt Dante.