The poets climb to the top of the stony chasm that ends the eighth circle and they begin their approach to the ninth and final circle, which is a great, dark pit filled with ice and cold, strong winds caused by Lucifer beating his wings. Dante thinks that he sees a city with many towers in the distance, but Virgil tells him that his eyes deceive him. The towers are actually the Giants, plugged into the center of the well up to their waists. Indeed, as they grow closer, Dante sees the Giants clearly, and at close range, Dante says that Nature was wise to discontinue the creation of these monsters. One of the Giants is Nimrod, builder of the tower of Babel, and he speaks in a nonsense tongue. Virgil reprimands Nimrod, calling him stupid and telling him that his horn is around his neck. Nimrod is condemned to babble through eternity, not understanding and not being understood.
The second Giant the poets encounter is Ephialtes, who endeavored with the other Giants to war against the gods. Ephialtes is bound with a chain five times around his body, and Dante wonders who could have had the strength to bind the Giant. Ephialtes begins to rock back and forth, causing the ground to tremble and scaring Dante.
The third Giant they meet is Antaeus, and Virgil praises him for his deeds and strength on Earth and with this flattery, gains passage on Antaeus' palm down to the bottom of the pit, the final circle of Hell, Cocytus. Dante is terrified that the Giant will harm him, but Antaeus gently places the poets on the bottom of the final hole.
