XIV/4 The two mountains that frame this Canto, Mount Etna (Mongibello) at the beginning and the Cretan Mount Ida at the end, give it a special symmetry and they are thus brought together here. The first is pictured as a male mountain ejaculating fire, housing as it does the forge of Vulcan with its weaponry of vengeance (used by Jupiter; hence the passing of the violence into the skies above). The second is, as befits its name, cast as a female mountain in the shape of a breast to indicate its use by Rhea (Cybele) as the place of nurture for her son (Jupiter again). It contains the statue of the Old Man of Crete here represented as schematised artifacts in general (Dante's detailed description renders visual corroboration unnecessary) with obvious Classical overtones etc. which in turn parallel the mixture of sources for the image (Dante, Ovid, the Bible, Science Fiction etc.). Also indicated are the pyramids of Egypt on which the statue turns its back while it faces Rome (here suggested by fragments of a pillar). Collage material for this picture was taken from the Boy's Own Paper, and innumerable fragments of pleating were taken from La Mode Illustree to suggest the Tears of Time. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.