The poets reach the final round of the last circle of Cocytus, the ninth and final circle of Hell called Judecca, and see the sinners there completely encased in the ice, in all sorts of strange and twisted positions. These are the sinners who were treacherous to their masters, and since they cannot speak, the poets move on to see Satan, the master of this place.
Dante uses Virgil as a windbreaker, because Satan’s bat-like wings are flapping, creating a cold wind that freezes the ice firmer. Dante stands dazed and shaken in the presence of this hideous being and can only attempt to describe him.
Satan is bound in the ice to his mid-point and has three faces—a red one, a yellow one, and black one. In each of his three mouths he chews a sinner. Virgil explains that Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Christ, is the one in the middle and suffering most, and that the other two are Brutus and Cassius, who betrayed Caesar.
Virgil tells Dante to hold on to him as he climbs Satan’s back, waiting for a moment when the wings are open so that they can have a safe passage down. Finally, Virgil climbs through a hole in the central rock, turning around—Dante is afraid that Virgil is going back through Hell, but both of the poets find themselves on their feet and standing on the other side of the world, having passed the mid-point of the Earth. They can see Satan’s legs on this side, his body still frozen in the ice above.
Without pausing to rest, the poets make the long journey to the other side of the world where they are delivered though a round opening into the world under the stars.
