Cacciaguida is Dante's great-great-grandfather, who receives him in the heaven of Mars, among those who fought for the faith. He runs from the cross of lights to its foot to greet him in Latin, as Anchises greeted Aeneas in Elysium, and he answers the request for his name with a relation: Dante is his branch, and he was Dante's root. He was knighted by the emperor Conrad and went with him against the unfaithful people, and he says he came from martyrdom to this peace.
In cantos XV and XVI he describes ancient Florence, sober and modest, by way of absences: no necklace, no crown, no empty houses. Then he goes through the city's families and concludes that houses are lost through pride, and that Fortune covers and uncovers Florence as the Moon does the shores. The city he celebrates is the one Dante lost.
In canto XVII he announces the exile. He says Dante will leave Florence as Hippolytus left Athens, expelled by his stepmother; that he will leave behind everything he loves most; and that he will learn how the bread of others tastes of salt. The first refuge will come, according to the commentators, from Verona, from the house of the Della Scala. Cacciaguida gives Dante an order: make manifest all of his vision, and let whatever itches be scratched, because a voice that is unpleasant at first taste will leave vital nourishment once it is digested.