The Circle of Traitors: Dante Striking against Bocca degli Abati
All Resolutions
But, passing 'midst the heads, my foot did strike
With violent blow against the face of one.
"Wherefore dost bruise me?" weeping he excaim'd.
(Hell; Canto XXXII, line 77.)
Description:
Copper-plate engraving showing a scene from the ninth circle of Hell: Dante and Virgil stand side by side on a frozen lake where human figures partly emerge, caught in ice. Dante stumbles against Bocca degli Abati, a traitor to the Guelfs, as more frozen bodies can be seen on the right embedded in rocks.