# Inferno Canto 34

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-18 — 1 clipping.*

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> Christianity Index  Divine Comedy Index  Previous: Inferno Canto 33  Next: Purgatory Canto 1  
> 
> Canto XXXIV
> 
> Argument
> 
>      In the fourth and last round of the ninth circle, those who have betrayed
> their benefactors are wholly covered with ice. And in the midst is Lucifer, at
> whose back Dante and Virgil ascend, till by a secret path they reach the
> surface of the other hemisphere of the earth, and once more obtain sight of
> the stars.
> 
> "The banners of Hell's Monarch do come forth
> Toward us; therefore look," so spake my guide,
> "If thou discern him." As, when breathes a cloud
> Heavy and dense, or when the shades of night
> Fall on our hemisphere, seems view'd from far
> A windmill, which the blast stirs briskly round;
> Such was the fabric then methought I saw.
> 
> To shield me from the wind, forthwith I drew
> Behind my guide: no covert else was there.
> 
> Now came I (and with fear I bid my strain
> Record the marvel) where the souls were all
> Whelm'd underneath, transparent, as through glass
> Pellucid the frail stem. Some prone were laid;
> Others stood upright, this upon the soles,
> That on his head, a third with face to feet
> Arch'd like a bow. When to the point we came,
> Whereat my guide was pleased that I should see
> 
> The creature eminent in beauty once,
> He from before me stepp'd and made me pause.
> 
> "Lo!" he exclaim'd, "lo! Dis; and lo! the place,
> Where thou hast need to arm thy heart with strength."
> 
> How frozen and how faint I then became,
> Ask me not, reader! for I write it not;
> Since words would fail to tell thee of my state.
> I was not dead nor living. Think thyself,
> If quick conception work in thee at all,
> How I did feel. That emperor, who sways
> The realm of sorrow, at mid breast from the ice
> Stood forth; and I in stature am more like
> A giant, than the giants are his arms.
> Mark now how great that whole must be, which suits
> With such a part. If he were beautiful
> As he is hideous now, and yet did dare
> To scowl upon his Maker, well from him
> May all our misery flow. Oh what a sight!
> How passing strange it seem'd, when I did spy
> Upon his head three faces: one in front
> Of hue vermilion, the other two with this
> Midway each shoulder join'd and at the crest;
> The right 'twixt wan and yellow seem'd; the left
> To look on, such as come from whence old Nile
> Stoops to the lowlands. Under each shot forth
> Two mighty wings, enormous as became
> A bird so vast. Sails never such I saw
> Outstretch'd on the wide sea. No plumes had they,
> But were in texture like a bat; and these
> He flapp'd i' th' air, that from him issued still
> Three winds, wherewith Cocytus to its depth
> Was frozen. At six eyes he wept: the tears
> Adown three chins distill'd with bloody foam.
> At every mouth his teeth a sinner champ'd,
> Bruised as with ponderous engine; so that three
> Were in this guise tormented. But far more
> Than from that gnawing, was the foremost pang'd
> By the fierce rending, whence oft - times the back
> Was stript of all its skin. "That upper spirit,
> Who hath worst punishment," so spake my guide,
> "Is Judas, he that hath his head within
> And plies the feet without. Of th' other two,
> Whose heads are under, from the murky jaw
> Who hangs, is Brutus:[1] lo! how he doth writhe
> And speaks not. The other, Cassius, that appears
> So large of limb. But night now reascends;
> And it is time for parting. All is seen."
> 
> [1: "Brutus." Landino struggles to extricate Brutus from the unworthy
> lot which is here assigned him. He maintains that by Brutus and Cassius are
> not meant the individuals known by those names, but any who put a lawful
> monarch to death. Yet if Caesar was such, the conspirators might be regarded
> as deserving of their doom. If Dante, however, believed Brutus to have been
> actuated by evil motives in putting Caesar to death, the excellence of the
> patriot's character in other respects would only have aggravated his guilt in
> that particular.]
> 
> I clipp'd him round the neck; for so he bade:
> And noting time and place, he, when the wings
> Enough were oped, caught fast the shaggy sides,
> And down from pile to pile descending stepp'd
> Between the thick fell and the jagged ice.
> 
> Soon as he reach'd the point, whereat the thigh
> Upon the swelling of the haunches turns,
> My leader there, with pain and struggling hard,
> Turn'd round his head where his feet stood before,
> And grappled at the fell as one who mounts;
> That into Hell methought we turn'd again.
> 
> "Expect that by such stairs as these," thus spake
> The teacher, panting like a man forespent,
> "We must depart from evil so extreme:"
> Then at a rocky opening issued forth,
> And placed me on the brink to sit, next join'd
> With wary step my side. I raised mine eyes,
> Believing that I Lucifer should see
> Where he was lately left, but saw him now
> With legs help upward. Let the grosser sort,
> Who see not what the point was I had past,
> Bethink them if sore toil oppress'd me then.
> 
> "Arise," my master cried, "upon thy feet.
> The way is long, and much uncouth the road;
> And now within one hour and a half of noon[2]
> The sun returns." It was no palace - hall
> 
> [2: The Poet uses the Hebrew manner of computing the day, according
> to which the third hour answers to our twelve o'clock at noon.]
> 
> Lofty and luminous wherein we stood,
> But natural dungeon where ill - footing was
> And scant supply of light. "Ere from the abyss
> I separate," thus when risen I began:
> "My guide! vouchsafe few words to set me free
> From error's thraldom. Where is now the ice?
> How standeth he in posture thus reversed?
> And how from eve to morn in space so brief
> Hath the sun made his transit?" He in few
> Thus answering spake: "Thou deemest thou art still
> On the other side the centre, where I grasp'd
> The abhorred worm that boreth through the world.
> Thou wast on the other side, so long as I
> Descended; when I turn'd, thou didst o'erpass
> That point, to which from every part is dragg'd
> All heavy substance. Thou art now arrived
> Under the hemisphere opposed to that,
> Which the great continent doth overspread,
> And underneath whose canopy expired
> The Man, that was born sinless and so lived.
> Thy feet are planted on the smallest sphere,
> Whose other aspect is Judecca. Morn
> Here rises, when there evening sets: and he,
> Whose shaggy pile we scaled, yet standeth fix'd,
> As at the first. On this part he fell down
> From Heaven; and th' earth here prominent before,
> Through fear of him did veil her with the sea,
> And to our hemisphere retired. Perchance,
> To shun him, was the vacant space left here,
> By what of firm land on this side appears,[3]
> That sprang aloof." There is a place beneath,
> From Belzebub as distant, as extends
> The vaulted tomb;[4] discover'd not by sight,
> But by the sound of brooklet, that descends
> This way along the hollow of a rock,
> Which, as it winds with no precipitous course,
> The wave hath eaten. By that hidden way
> My guide and I did enter, to return
> 
> [3: The mountain of Purgatory.]
> 
> [4: "The vaulted tomb" ("La tomba"). This word is used to express the
> whole depth of the infernal region.]
> 
> To the fair world: and heedless of repose
> We climb'd, he first, I following his steps,
> Till on our view the beautiful lights of Heaven
> Dawn'd through a circular opening in the cave:
> Thence issuing we again beheld the stars.
>
> — *Inferno Canto 34*