Canto XXVI of Dante’s Inferno takes place in the eighth bolgia (ditch) of the Eighth Circle of Hell.  Here reside those guilty of providing fraudulent or deceitful counsel.  In life, these souls used their persuasive abilities to harm or destroy others; and, in keeping with Dante’s attention to the principle of contrapasso, their punishment in Hell fits their crimes during life.  As they once used their tongues for malicious speech, so in the afterlife are their souls “tongued” forever with flame.