Farther down they walked among those who, when they shed tears over their
woe had their teardrops frozen, so that even this solace was soon denied
them. Dante promised to break the frozen veil from the eyes of one who
prayed for aid, but when he learned that it was the Friar Alberigo, whose
body was still on earth, and whose soul was already undergoing punishment,
he refused, "for to be rude to him was courtesy."
In the fourth and last division of the ninth circle, the Judecca, a strong
wind was blowing. Then Dante saw the emperor of the kingdom frozen in the
ice, a mighty giant foul to look upon, with three faces, vermilion, white
and yellow, and black. The waving of his two featherless wings caused the
great winds that froze Cocytus. Teardrops fell from his six eyes; in each
mouth he was crunching a sinner, Judas Iscariot, Brutus, and Cassius.
Being warned by Vergil that it was time to depart, Dante clasped his guide
around his neck, and Vergil began to climb down the huge monster until
they reached his middle, the centre of gravity, where with much difficulty
they turned and climbed upward along the subterranean course of Lethe,
until they again beheld the stars.
THE DIVINE COMEDY.
THE PURGATORY.
The Purgatory of Dante is situated on a mountain top on the opposite side
of the earth from Jerusalem, and is surrounded by the western ocean.
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