But the pit of the Inferno is at first sight obscure, deep, and so cloudy that at its bottom nothing could be seen. When Dante and Virgil reach the marsh in which the souls of those who have been angry and sad in their lives are forever plunged, they find it covered with thick fog; and the condemned souls say to them, ‘We once were sad, In the stueet air, made gladsome by the sun . Now in these murky settlings are we sad.’ Even the angel crossing the marsh to help them is annoyed by this bitter marsh smoke, fummo acerbo , and continually sweeps it with his hand from before his face.” ↩