Dante and Virgil continue their journey toward the center of the ninth circle of Hell. Here, traitors to their benefactors are sealed in the ice of the frozen lake, Cocytus. The encased bodies of the sinners are distorted in every possible way. Through the fog, the two poets begin to approach the giant shape of Lucifer.
Canto XXXIV, 28-29
The Emperor of the kingdom dolorous
From his mid-breast forth issued from the ice