As Dante and Virgil continue to walk, they see sinners now completely encased in the ice.  They are frozen alive for eternity in various contortions and positions, unable to even speak.  In the distance Dante sees what looks to him like a windmill.  As they get closer, they see it is Satan, flapping his bat-like wings, frozen in the water from the chest down.  In a mockery of the Trinity, Satan has three terrifying faces, each face chewing on a sinner.  The three sinners Satan is eating are Judas, Cassius, and Brutus.  Cassius and Brutus conspired to assassinate Caesar, just as Judas conspired against Christ.  These three sinners represent those who commit treachery against the Church and the Roman empire.

The climax of this final scene is the escape from Hell as Virgil leads Dante out by climbing down Satan’s hairy flanks toward the center of the earth.  As they climb down Satan’s legs, they are in the exact middle of the earth and are now climbing upward toward the other side of the earth.  This leads Dante and Virgil out of Hell and to the other side of the earth (on Easter morning) to a sight that brings joy to Dante, a sky full of stars.

we climbed up, he first and I behind him,
far enough to see, through a round opening,
a few of those fair things the heavens bear.
Then we came forth, to see again the stars.

go back…