The Descent into the Ninth Circle and the Frozen Lake

The Descent into the Ninth Circle and the Frozen Lake is the final and most harrowing stage of Dante's journey through Hell, a descent into the frozen lake of Cocytus where the ultimate sin of treachery is punished. This event marks a radical shift in the poem's landscape: the fires and torments of the upper circles give way to an eternal, soul-numbing cold, and the narrative focus narrows to the most intimate and horrifying forms of human betrayal. It is here that Dante confronts the absolute limit of sin and the physical embodiment of evil, Lucifer, before beginning the ascent toward Purgatory.

The Frozen Lake of Cocytus and the First Division: Caina

After being lowered into the abyss by the giant Antaeus, Dante and Virgil find themselves at the bottom of the well, standing on a lake of ice. The poet describes it as having "the semblance of glass, and not of water" , a surface so thick that neither the Danube in Austria nor the Don under the frigid sky ever produced such a veil (E04550-E04551). The shades of the damned are fixed within this ice, their faces livid and their teeth chattering "unto the note of storks" . The first division of this circle is Caina, named for Cain, where traitors to their kindred are punished. Here, Dante sees two sinners so closely pressed together that their hair mingles . When he asks who they are, they lift their faces, and their tears, which had been moist within their eyes, gush over the eyelids and are immediately frozen shut by the cold (E04570-E04572). The two, locked in a frozen embrace of mutual hatred, butt against each other like he-goats . A shade who has lost both his ears to the frost identifies them as the sons of Count Albert of the valley of the Bisenzio (E04580-E04581), declaring that no other shade in all of Caina is more worthy of being fixed in the ice (E04583-E04584). He names himself as Camicion de' Pazzi, who waits for his kinsman Carlino to come and "exonerate" him, implying that Carlino's even greater treachery will make Camicion's own sin seem less severe (E04592-E04593).

The Second Division: Antenora and the Encounter with Bocca degli Abati

Dante and Virgil advance toward the middle of the frozen lake, where all weight unites . As Dante walks, his foot strikes the face of one of the sinners embedded in the ice. The shade, weeping, growls at him, asking if he comes to increase the vengeance of Montaperti (E04603-E04605). Dante seizes the sinner by the scalp and demands his name, threatening to pull out all his hair. The shade refuses, but another sinner inadvertently reveals his identity by crying out, "What doth ail thee, Bocca?" (E04630-E04631). This is Bocca degli Abati, a Florentine traitor who, according to Dante, betrayed his city at the Battle of Montaperti. Once exposed, Bocca spitefully names other traitors in Antenora: Buoso da Duera, who wept for the silver of the French (E04639-E04641); Beccaria, whose gorget Florence slit asunder (E04643-E04644); Gianni del Soldanier; Ganelon; and Tebaldello, who opened Faenza while the people slept (E04645-E04647).

The Third Division: Ptolomaea and the Story of Friar Alberigo

Continuing, Dante and Virgil enter Ptolomaea, where traitors to their guests and friends are punished. Here, the sinners lie supine in the ice, their tears frozen in their eye sockets, forming a crystal visor that prevents them from weeping (E04761-E04763). One of them, Friar Alberigo, begs Dante to remove the ice from his eyes so he can vent his sorrow before the tears recongeal (E04776-E04778). Dante promises to help him if he reveals his identity. Alberigo explains the unique nature of Ptolomaea: the soul of a traitor descends to this circle as soon as the betrayal is committed, even before the body dies. A demon then takes possession of the living body, which continues to walk the earth (E04788-E04796). He reveals that he is Friar Alberigo, who had his guests murdered at a banquet. He also points out Ser Branca d' Oria, a Genoese who, according to Alberigo, has been in Hell for many years even though his body still appears to be alive (E04801-E04805). Dante, however, refuses to remove the ice from Alberigo's eyes, declaring that to be rude to him was an act of courtesy .

The Fourth Division: Judecca and the Encounter with Lucifer

At the very center of the frozen lake lies Judecca, where traitors to their lords and benefactors are punished. Here, the shades are completely encased in the ice, some prone, some erect, some bent like a bow (E04835-E04837). Virgil points out the creature who once had the most beautiful semblance: Lucifer, the Emperor of the kingdom of sorrow, who stands fixed in the ice from his mid-breast upward (E04850-E04851). Dante describes him as a giant, far larger than the giants themselves, with three faces on his head: one vermilion in front, one between white and yellow on the right, and one black on the left, like those who come from where the Nile flows (E04860-E04867). Under each face, two mighty wings emerge, like those of a bat, which he flaps, generating three winds that freeze Cocytus (E04868-E04874). With his six eyes, he weeps, and his tears, mingled with bloody drivel, trickle down his three chins (E04875-E04876). In each of his three mouths, he crunches a sinner. The central, most punished figure is Judas Iscariot, whose head is inside Lucifer's mouth while his legs kick outside (E04884-E04885). The other two are Brutus and Cassius, the assassins of Julius Caesar, who hang head downward from the other two mouths (E04887-E04889).

The Ascent from Hell

Having seen the entirety of Hell, Virgil announces that it is time to depart, as night is reascending (E04890-E04891). He seizes the moment, and as Lucifer's wings are open, he grasps the shaggy sides of the monster and begins to climb downward through the hair and ice (E04894-E04897). When they reach the point where the thigh revolves, Virgil turns himself around, so that his head is where his legs were, and begins to climb upward, as if ascending a stairway (E04900-E04903). Dante, confused, thinks they are returning to Hell, but Virgil explains that they have passed the center of the earth, the point to which all heavy things are drawn (E04932-E04933). They are now in the opposite hemisphere, where it is morning when it is evening in the other . They emerge through a round aperture to see the stars once more (E04959-E04961).