Whereas earlier, Dante searched for rhymes that would help alleviate the suffering of the shades in the upper circles, now he calls out for "rhymes rugged and harsh and hoarse/ fit for the hideous hole" [Sayers' translation] — horrible words befitting the utter horror of this most horrendous place, the very bottom of Hell, reserved for the most heinous sinners.
A soul cries out for Dante to be careful not to tread on the heads of the souls in that frozen lake, and Dante turns and sees that the sinners are frozen according to their sin. Dante and Virgil are in the first of four rounds of the final circle, Cocytus. The first round is called Caina, and the sinners here have their heads bowed toward the ice, chattering their teeth and crying.
Dante looks around and sees two sinners clamped tightly together, breast-to-breast, and asks them who they are, to which they do not reply but butt their heads together like goats. A nearby sinner with his ears frozen off replies that these two were brothers, and that there are no two more deserving of punishment in all of Caina than these two. He goes on to name other sinners, and finally himself.
