第三十四篇我的老师说：”地狱王之旗向我们前进啦。你向前面看，是否看得清楚，好比一块黑云飘过，或是黑夜降临大地的时候，前面现出一个风车正在风中打转；我所看见的东西就是这些形状。那里的风真厉害，我只得退缩在我引路人的背后，因为那里没有别的东西可以挡风。我已经到了那里我写的时候还是伴着恐怖，那里的灵魂全都盖在冰下，像水晶中间现着的草梗一样。有的躺着、有的立着，有的头朝下，还有的弯着腰，头部靠近脚。
我们再向前走一些，我的老师很高兴地把那个从前很美丽的造物指点给我看；他把身于闪在一边叫我停步，他说：“你看狄斯，你看这块使你却步的地方！”读者诸君，我那时惊吓得怎样变为冷冰一般，怎样四肢麻木没有知觉，你们不必问我，因为所有的语言文字都不能准确说明，我并没有死，我却失去生。请聪明的读者想想罢，既不生，又不死，试问我成为什么样子？
那个苦恼国的大王，上半身露在冰外；我的身材和巨人相比，正合巨人和他的臂膀相比一样；假使你们从他的一只臂膀推氮他的全身应当有多么大呢？假使他以往是美丽现在就这样丑恶；假使他从前昂首对抗世界的主宰，现在就感受一切的痛楚这当属必然的结果。
我多么觉得奇怪呀！我看见他的头有三个面孔：在前的是火红的一般，其他两个正在每边肩胛以上，和正面的太阳穴相吻合，右边的脸白面带黄，左脸则像出自尼罗河上游，每个面孔以下都有两只大翅膀，适合于它的飞行，我在海上也没有看见过象它这样张开的巨帆。不过翅膀上面和蝙幅是一样的质地。他们煽动巨翼，风吹三面，而全科奇士斯都如此结了冰。他的六只眼睛都哭着，眼泪淌到三个面颊下，那里是混和了血的涎沫。在每个嘴里，牙齿象铁钳一样钳住了一个罪人，在正面的一个，与其说他是被钳住，不如说他是被剥皮，因为那时他的背上已经被撕去一条一条的皮了。我的老师说：“那个头在嘴里，脚在外面乱踢的受罚的灵魂是加略人犹大，他所受的苦最大；其余两个的头在下面，那个挂在黑面孔嘴下的是布鲁都；你看痛楚的扭动着，但无法说出一句话。另外一个是卡修斯。他的肢体虽然强壮，…。现在天黑了，我们应当回去了，因为我们已经全领教过了。”
依照向导的意思，我搂紧了他的颈根；他看准了时机，等那翅膀张得顶开的时候，从那多毛的一边落下去；在那毛和冰之间，有容得下我们的余地，他攀住毛一步一步下降，直到恶魔的臀部，在那里他吃力地掉转了头和脚，顺着毛居然只向上爬，我以为又回到地狱去了，老师气喘地对我说：“你搂紧我，我们就要靠这种办法，爬出这魔窟。”后来我们从一个石缝里爬了出来，而他先把我安置在石上坐着，然后他再跨出他疲劳的腿脚。我抬起眼睛，我想仍旧可以看见方才的卢奇菲罗，但是景象大变了，我看见他两脚向上！我那时好像一个不晓事的人，不懂事情为什么会这样颠倒，真让人惊奇不绝。
我的老师说：“站起来罢！道路还长，且充满艰难；现在太阳已经升到早晨之半。”我门所在的地方，并非王宫，只是同一处土地，而且高下不平，缺乏光明。我站起来说：“在我离开深渊之前，老师呀，请你略微告诉我，使我的疑团消融。冰到那里去了？为什么他会颠倒过来？为什么一忽儿晚上会变做早晨？”他对我说：“你以为还在中心的那一边，在那一边我曾攀住穿过世界的恶虫的毛。在我下降的时候，你却是还在那一边；可是我掉转的时候，你就越过一切重物所趋的中心；现在你已经到了这半球的下面，且正对着那一半，那里应是覆盖着大陆，在那里的中区曾经有一位圣者牺牲，他一生没有犯过一点罪过；现在你的脚立在球面的这一边，那一边就是犹大环，那一边是晚上，这一边正是早晨；这一个把毛给我们做梯子的，仍旧和从前一样，并没有掉转过来。他从天上落下来是落在这一边的；本来大陆地是在这边的，因为怕他的缘故，就没到水里，逃到我们那半球去了；或许也是由于躲避他的原因，这一边留下一个总处，同时地面也隆了起来。”
那里的空处，和恶魔的坟墓一样深。“那里不用眼睛看，用耳朵能听到一条小溪的水声，那条水从一个岩石的隙缝流进来同为年久的缘故，岩石被水腐蚀了，那水道也就盘旋曲折。
向导和我走上了隐秘的路，要回到光明的世界；我们并未休息，一步一步向上前进，我紧跟着他，直走到可以以洞口望见了天上美丽的东西；我们就从那里出去，再看见那群星璀灿的昊天。”
Towards us; therefore look," so spake my guide,
"If thou discern him." As, when breathes a cloud
Heavy and dense, or when the shades of night
Fall on our hemisphere, seems view'd from far
A windmill, which the blast stirs briskly round,
Such was the fabric then methought I saw,
To shield me from the wind, forthwith I drew
Behind my guide: no covert else was there.
Now came I (and with fear I bid my strain
Record the marvel) where the souls were all
Whelm'd underneath, transparent, as through glass
Pellucid the frail stem. Some prone were laid,
Others stood upright, this upon the soles,
That on his head, a third with face to feet
Arch'd like a bow. When to the point we came,
Whereat my guide was pleas'd that I should see
The creature eminent in beauty once,
He from before me stepp'd and made me pause.
"Lo!" he exclaim'd, "lo Dis! and lo the place,
Where thou hast need to arm thy heart with strength."
How frozen and how faint I then became,
Ask me not, reader! for I write it not,
Since words would fail to tell thee of my state.
I was not dead nor living. Think thyself
If quick conception work in thee at all,
How I did feel. That emperor, who sways
The realm of sorrow, at mid breast from th' ice
Stood forth; and I in stature am more like
A giant, than the giants are in his arms.
Mark now how great that whole must be, which suits
With such a part. If he were beautiful
As he is hideous now, and yet did dare
To scowl upon his Maker, well from him
May all our mis'ry flow. Oh what a sight!
How passing strange it seem'd, when I did spy
Upon his head three faces: one in front
Of hue vermilion, th' other two with this
Midway each shoulder join'd and at the crest;
The right 'twixt wan and yellow seem'd: the left
To look on, such as come from whence old Nile
Stoops to the lowlands. Under each shot forth
Two mighty wings, enormous as became
A bird so vast. Sails never such I saw
Outstretch'd on the wide sea. No plumes had they,
But were in texture like a bat, and these
He flapp'd i' th' air, that from him issued still
Three winds, wherewith Cocytus to its depth
Was frozen. At six eyes he wept: the tears
Adown three chins distill'd with bloody foam.
At every mouth his teeth a sinner champ'd
Bruis'd as with pond'rous engine, so that three
Were in this guise tormented. But far more
Than from that gnawing, was the foremost pang'd
By the fierce rending, whence ofttimes the back
Was stript of all its skin. "That upper spirit,
Who hath worse punishment," so spake my guide,
"Is Judas, he that hath his head within
And plies the feet without. Of th' other two,
Whose heads are under, from the murky jaw
Who hangs, is Brutus: lo! how he doth writhe
And speaks not! Th' other Cassius, that appears
So large of limb. But night now re-ascends,
And it is time for parting. All is seen."
I clipp'd him round the neck, for so he bade;
And noting time and place, he, when the wings
Enough were op'd, caught fast the shaggy sides,
And down from pile to pile descending stepp'd
Between the thick fell and the jagged ice.
Soon as he reach'd the point, whereat the thigh
Upon the swelling of the haunches turns,
My leader there with pain and struggling hard
Turn'd round his head, where his feet stood before,
And grappled at the fell, as one who mounts,
That into hell methought we turn'd again.
"Expect that by such stairs as these," thus spake
The teacher, panting like a man forespent,
"We must depart from evil so extreme."
Then at a rocky opening issued forth,
And plac'd me on a brink to sit, next join'd
With wary step my side. I rais'd mine eyes,
Believing that I Lucifer should see
Where he was lately left, but saw him now
With legs held upward. Let the grosser sort,
Who see not what the point was I had pass'd,
Bethink them if sore toil oppress'd me then.
"Arise," my master cried, "upon thy feet.
The way is long, and much uncouth the road;
And now within one hour and half of noon
The sun returns." It was no palace-hall
Lofty and luminous wherein we stood,
But natural dungeon where ill footing was
And scant supply of light. "Ere from th' abyss
I sep'rate," thus when risen I began,
"My guide! vouchsafe few words to set me free
From error's thralldom. Where is now the ice?
How standeth he in posture thus revers'd?
And how from eve to morn in space so brief
Hath the sun made his transit?" He in few
Thus answering spake: "Thou deemest thou art still
On th' other side the centre, where I grasp'd
Th' abhorred worm, that boreth through the world.
Thou wast on th' other side, so long as I
Descended; when I turn'd, thou didst o'erpass
That point, to which from ev'ry part is dragg'd
All heavy substance. Thou art now arriv'd
Under the hemisphere opposed to that,
Which the great continent doth overspread,
And underneath whose canopy expir'd
The Man, that was born sinless, and so liv'd.
Thy feet are planted on the smallest sphere,
Whose other aspect is Judecca. Morn
Here rises, when there evening sets: and he,
Whose shaggy pile was scal'd, yet standeth fix'd,
As at the first. On this part he fell down
From heav'n; and th' earth, here prominent before,
Through fear of him did veil her with the sea,
And to our hemisphere retir'd. Perchance
To shun him was the vacant space left here
By what of firm land on this side appears,
That sprang aloof." There is a place beneath,
From Belzebub as distant, as extends
The vaulted tomb, discover'd not by sight,
But by the sound of brooklet, that descends
This way along the hollow of a rock,
Which, as it winds with no precipitous course,
The wave hath eaten. By that hidden way
My guide and I did enter, to return
To the fair world: and heedless of repose
We climbed, he first, I following his steps,
Till on our view the beautiful lights of heav'n
Dawn'd through a circular opening in the cave:
Thus issuing we again beheld the stars.