Seeing Dante hang back timorously, Virgil reminds him he will find Beatrice on the other side, whereupon our poet plunges recklessly into the glowing furnace, where both his companions precede him, and whence all three issue on an upward path.

There they make their couch on separate steps, and Dante gazes up at the stars until he falls asleep and dreams of a lovely lady, culling flowers in a meadow, singing she is Lea (the mediaeval type of active life), and stating that her sister Rachel (the emblem of contemplative life) spends the day gazing at herself in a mirror.
At dawn the pilgrims awake, and Virgil assures Dante before this day ends his hunger for a sight of Beatrice will be appeased.

This prospect so lightens Dante's heart that he almost soars to the top of the stairway.

There Virgil, who has led him through temporal and eternal fires, bids him follow his pleasure, until he meets the fair lady who bade him undertake this journey.
"Till those bright eyes With gladness come, which, weeping, made me haste To succor thee, thou mayst or seat thee down Or wander where thou wilt.

Expect no more Sanction of warning voice or sign from me, Free of thine own arbitrament to choose.
Discreet, judicious.