Walking With Dante

INFERNO, Canto XII, comes to its conclusion with a "zoo" of those who have been violent against others, including Alexander the Great (perhaps), Attila the Hun (more sure), and even local brigands from the highways of Tuscany.It's been a long ride to get here: down a scree-filled slope, past the Minotaur, up against threatening centaurs (who turn out to be really nice guys), and on across the river of boiling blood. Why did it take us so long to get to the murders and the plunderers? It's a grand question.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I posit some answers to it at the end of Inferno, Canto XII. Here are the segments of this rather complicated episode:[00:50] My English translation of the passage: Inferno, Canto XII, lines 103 - 139.[03:38] Nessus tells Dante-the-pilgrim that he's looking at "the tyrants." What exactly is tyranny?[07:57] A break in the action in which--of all things--Virgil bows out.[11:13] The stream gets shallower--and a discussion of relics in medieval Europe.[13:43] The more common murderers and (perhaps) the fording of the boiling river of blood.[14:45] Why is it hard to identify some of these figures in the river?[17:56] The plunderers are pointed out--or maybe not.[22:30] The first problem with Canto XII: The question of Dante-the-poet's attitude to the material, either perhaps an intellectual challenge or an emotional one (perhaps even guilt).[24:42] The second problem in the canto: a strange bit of camaraderie.[25:29] A third problem: the pilgrim's silence throughout this canto.[26:10] Dante is the poet of corporeality. Perhaps that's what's giving him fits here.

In INFERNO, the question of our pilgrim's corporeality continues to dog us (and perhaps the poet). Is the pilgrim in his body? Is this "merely" a dream sequence in which he's imagining he's in a body? How "real" is his journey?Although these may seem modern problems, they in fact bother Dante-the-poet in COMEDY, forcing him to make decisions about his narrative that will eventually pay off. For if our pilgrim is corporeal, then his sense of isolation in the spiritual world can become more profound.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we slow-walk through this passage toward the end of INFERNO, Canto XII. We're in the seventh circle of hell, among the violent, and specifically among those who have been violent toward their neighbors and their neighbors' property.The passage has conversations with Chiron, problems with Virgil's character, "extreme particularities" in its details, surreal landscapes, and knots in its interpretation--in other words, all that we can hope for from COMEDY.Here are the segments of this episode:[01:14] Here's my English translation of the passage from INFERNO: Canto XII, lines 76 - 102. If you want to see it, head out to my website, markscarbrough.com, and look under the header "Walking With Dante."[02:51] A brief introduction to this passage from the seventh circle of hell.[03:27] The problems of corporeality in COMEDY, particularly when it comes to these centaurs.[12:13] Virgil stands at Chiron's chest, right where the bestial and human merge.[14:26] What's up with Virgil's changed attitude toward these guardian figures?[17:53] Virgil uses periphrasis to talk about Beatrice--but that brings up a whole 'nother problem in COMEDY.[21:33] There's something else spoken of with periphrasis in this passage: Dante-the-poet's guilt.[24:13] A reference to a passage in the Gospel of Matthew may underlie this passage--and if so, shows us that this entire bit from COMEDY might be a little tongue in cheek.[27:33] Nessus, a "trusty escort"? More winking and nudging in this passage.

We've come to the river of blood in the seventh circle of INFERNO, the first ring of the violent--and we don't meet any sinners. Instead, we meet the tormentors: the centaurs who fire cruel arrows at those sunk in the boiling muck.This passage has some problems in it, but none more than the opening three lines, a direct address from the poet.Why does Dante feel the need to step out from behind the curtain of the narrative right here and speak directly to his readers? He's not giving us a cue about how to read the passage. Instead, he seems to be warning us away from the motivating sins--which are different than the evil being punished.To say the least, this is a complicated passage in INFERNO. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we take a slow stroll through it and begin to pull out both its themes and the poetics that may well like under Dante's increasingly elaborate narrative structure.Here are the segments of this episode:[01:01] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XII, lines 49 - 75. If you want to see this passage, look for it on my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>, under the header "Walking With Dante."[02:59] A direct address from the poet that shows us 1) the underlying motivations for the evil punished here in the first ring of the seventh circle of hell and 2) the underlying metaphors that form the backbone of this canto. In other words, the surface and the depths are not always unified.[07:45] The arrival of the centaurs in the poem.[10:03] More on those centaurs, including where Dante the poet may be getting the information for this passage.[12:28] Three centaurs break off from the group. Who are these three? And why is that important?[14:31] Virgil's reply--and the problem with the story in this passage. Maybe the story is beginning to be in competition with the "point" Dante wants to make.[25:13] More about the uneasy alliance of point and narrative that underlies almost all imaginative literature.

In this passage from INFERNO, Virgil offers us (and the pilgrim, Dante) more of a glimpse into his last trek to the bottom of hell. Here, he tells us that things have changed, that hell now lies in ruins, that the harrowing caused havoc across hell--and he descends into a little heresy along the way, quoting Empedocles, a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for an in-depth exploration of this complicated passage. We don't always get the Virgil we think we should get. And that's part of the problem . . . no, part of the fun of Dante's COMEDY. Virgil is the most difficult part of a difficult poem. But that just gives us more space to explore what's going on in Dante's masterwork.Here are the segments of this episode:[01:05] My English translation of this passage from INFERNO: Canto XII, lines 31 - 48 (the descent toward the violent).[02:23] Dante-the-pilgrim's silence. It's one of the most curious things about INFERNO, Canto XII.[03:33] The rock slide is an example of "extreme particularity" in Dante's art. Here, I'll give you a little of the critic Erich Auerbach's thoughts on Dante's poetic and how we can see them at work in this passage. Our pilgrim is in silence. Virgil attempts to figure out why. He guesses the silence is about the natural landscape. Is the right? If so, then the poetry always drives back to the details, the "extreme particularities."[09:06] More of Virgil's backstory. We learn that hell has changed since the last time Virgil passed this way.[11:27] Why is hell in ruins? We can answer the question by heading off to the Gospels in the New Testament. But Virgil doesn't![13:24] We seem to have returned to the Virgil we knew in Cantos I and IV. What happened to the Virgil of Canto XI?[14:41] A little bit about the word used for "filthy": feda. It's a Latinization. More importantly, it's a hapax legomenon, a word used only once in a work of literature. Why is that important? And why doesn't Virgil use a more "ordinary" Florentine word here?[17:10] Virgil quotes Empedocles (c. 493 BC - 432 BCE), a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. Virgil is not a sure guide to theology . . . until he is.[23:36] A look at the landscape ahead--which has made so many critics question the necessity of all that's come before this moment in Canto XII, particularly the additional details about Virgil's backstory. But maybe it's important to watch Dante-the-poet working with, around, and through the character of Virgil.

Virgil has finished his lesson on the geography of hell, he's answered the pilgrim's two questions, and we're back to the start of Canto XI, only at the start of Canto XII.Here, Dante, our pilgrim, confronts a dangerous rockslide that leads us straight past the Minotaur, the "infamy of Crete."Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I look over so many questions in the passage. What's the point of the Minotaur right here? What's the point of such a complicated simile about an avalanche near Trento? And can we start to come to terms with one of the cantos of INFERNO that has come in for so much negative criticism over the centuries since COMEDY was written.Here are the segments of this episode:[00:50] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XII, lines 1 - 30. If you'd like to see this translation, check it out on my website: <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[02:24] An overview of Canto XII, particularly the negative criticism it has endured over the centuries. But there may be ways out of the problems so many critics find--or at least explanations for the problems.[04:34] The notion that Canto XI, the previous one, is actually parenthetical--which brings us to a question of the alternating modes of COMEDY: discursive and narrative.[06:57] The ruins of hell. There may be geo-political precedent for the fact that hell lies in ruins, not just a theological explanation (which will come in the next passage and the next episode of this podcast).[12:09] The Minotaur on the slope. Let's take it line by line to figure out more about this curious figure in the scree.[20:34] Two questions about the Minotaur: what exactly does he look like and what is his function in the poem, COMEDY?[25:19] The run down the slope--which emphasizes our pilgrim's corporeality. Why?

Even at this point, at the end of INFERNO's Canto XI, we've come a long with Dante-the-pilgrim. We've walked down six circles of hell. We've also encountered lots of problems in the text, moments that need explanation, lots of interpretive knots.But I want to call our attention to the criticism of an Italian scholar who essentially says that at this point, the COMEDY has been killed with footnotes.It's a great moment to stop, reflect, and think about the achievement and beauty of Dante's masterwork. Sure, it's fun to be down in the weeds. But since Virgil stopped to offer a map of the road ahead, I thought we'd stop and I'd encourage you to look back at the the road we've been on.This episode does not break into easily divided segments.

Having asked one question and gotten smacked down, our pilgrim, Dante, dares to ask Virgil a second question. And this one's much harder. So much so that even Virgil seems hesitant in his reply.Why is usury punished so far down in hell, even below the murderers? And why is usury punished among the violent?The answer, which involves Artistotle and Genesis, leads to a place no one could have a predicted: Scholastic reasoning has forced Virgil--and Dante-the-poet--to lay out a basic theory of art.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through this difficult passage at the back of Canto XI of INFERNO. The pilgrim wants to know the logic of the punishment of usury. Virgil offers him much more.Here are the sections of this episode:[00:56] My English translation of this passage from INFERNO: Canto XI, lines 91 - 114.[02:56] The pilgrim's second question based on Virgil's map of hell: Why is usury placed so far down in hell, at the bottom of the big circle of the violent?[05:26] Virgil's reply--which becomes a theory of art itself. This is a crabbed, tough passage, combining Aristotle's PHYSICS with the Biblical book of Genesis to arrive at a notion of art that anticipates the Renaissance.[15:28] More on the scholastic reasoning that's behind this passage and that will structure the deepest parts of the sins of violence.[18:41] A temporal marker after a map of hell, perhaps the most fascinating lines of all of Canto XI.

Most of INFERNO Canto XI is taken up with Virgil's "mappa inferno." The old poet claims he's laying it out with "clear reasoning."But maybe not, because our pilgrim has a couple of questions.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the first of these questions, really one about geography: Why are some people inside the walls of Dis and others outside?Consider supporting this podcast with a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend, <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">using this PayPal link right here</a>.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:05] My English translation of INFERNO: Canto XI, lines 67 - 90. If you'd like to see my translation, drop a comment to continue the conversation, or find a deeper study guide, check out the entry for this episode on my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:16] The pilgrim's question. Starting in flattery, it questions Virgil's mapping Virgil.[06:45] The pilgrim's question reveals a structural coherence in the upper circles of hell.[08:23] On to Virgil's answer. God has a vendetta. How does that work?[14:00] The ramifications of Virgil's answer, including the changing nature of both hell and Virgil's character.

We've left the seven deadly sins behind. We got through lust, gluttony, avarice, and wrath, then dumped sloth, envy, and pride in favor of heresy, violence, and two types of fraud.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the last of Virgil's map of hell in INFERNO, Canto XI.At the bottom of the pit--indeed, at the center of the universe--lie those who have committed fraud: the sin that violates both the bond of love that nature is supposed to give every human for another and the special bond of trust that develops between two people.Consider supporting this podcast with a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend by using <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">this PayPal link right here</a>.Here's an outline for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:11] I read all of Virgil's map of hell, from Canto XI, Line 16, all the way up through the end of this passage at line 66. If you'd like to see my English translation of this passage, drop a comment for more conversation, or find a deeper study guide, head out to my website <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[04:40] Virgil has become a scholastic theologian.[09:12] I work through this specific passage, lines 52 through 66 in Canto XI. I'll give you some insights into the nature of the two sins of fraud--what's sometimes called "simple fraud" and "complex fraud."[19:20] The bottom of hell—indeed, the bottom of the universe—is not about what humans do against God. Rather, it’s about what humans do to each other.

Virgil begins to detail his mappa mundi--or perhaps his mappa inferno--with a longer look at the seventh circle of hell, the next we'll encounter.He's already explained what's ahead: injustice and malice, force and fraud. Now he's going to make a fuller explanation of force--that is, violence.But violence is not a simple sin. Nor even a halved sin, like anger and sullenness. Instead, violence is divided into parts or categories.What's more, it's roots are a complicated network of Aquinas, the Gospels, Cicero, Aristotle, Boethius, and old Roman law.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through Virgil's highly structured but still knotty explanation of the three smaller rings in the seventh circle of hell--and the rationale for how all these sins are contained under the larger rubric of "violence."Consider supporting this work with a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">through this PayPal link right here</a>.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:16] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto XI, lines 28 - 51. If you want to see this translation, offer a comment on this episode, or find a study guide for deeper analysis, look for this episode on my website: <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[04:42] Virgil's explanation of the seventh circle. He begins by dividing violence into three parts: against God, against yourself, and against your neighbor.[14:38] The first of the inner rings in the seventh circle: violence against your neighbor and your neighbor's goods.[17:06] The second of the inner rings: violence against yourself and your own property.[22:04] The third of the inner rings: violence against God, which itself takes three forms.[29:18] A brief overview of the circle of the violent, the most unnatural part of hell we've yet encountered.Mentioned in this episode:A brief introduction to the walk ahead

Settled in the shade of the tomb for a heretic pope, Dante hears Virgil's first take on the nature of lowest hell: malice, injury, the heart of evil itself, all bound up with force and fraud.Mappamundi? No! Mappa-inferno! Virgil's geography of hell will take up most of this canto and provide us with an unparalleled glimpse into the poet's thinking about the nature of evil.Or is it "just" a glimpse into Virgil's thinking?Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we rest with the pilgrim and listen to his guide explain the road ahead.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[00:55] My English translation of INFERNO: Canto XI, lines 16 - 27. If you'd like to read along, drop a comment to continue the conversation, or find a guide for deeper study, please find the entry for this episode on my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:10] What is the significance of Canto XI? Might there by medieval numerology underneath the number of the canto?[05:06] An explication of the passage, line by line, with particularly emphasis on two words: "injustice" and "malice," the keys to understanding the lowest parts of hell (or the worst of human behavior).[12:41] One larger question from this passage: How do you recover the texts that meant so much to you in an earlier part of your life?[17:43] A second question: Why does Virgil feel the need to map hell for the pilgrim (and us)?

Our pilgrim leaves Farinata's and Cavalcante's tomb hesitantly. Something about his encounter with the heretics is so profound, it stops the forward momentum of COMEDY for a time.What's ahead is the tomb of a heretic pope, as well as a glimpse of Beatrice and the foul smell of the lowest pits of hell.We're about to enter the abyss, what could be called "Tartarus," the place the poet Vergil and his hero Aeneas couldn't go, the place our poet dares to go.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we get a first whiff of the worst parts of hell and take refuge under a tomb that contains the second piece of writing in hell but that causes more problems than it solves.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:00] More about Dante-the-pilgrim and Farinata.[03:17] My English language translation of INFERNO: Canto X, Line 121b, through Canto XI, Line 15. If you'd like to read along, drop a comment about this passage, or find a deeper study guide, look for this episode's entry on my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[05:38] The first knotty problem in this passage: Dante's (well) disobedience. Virgil has signaled him to move on. He hasn't. In fact, he asked more questions of Farinata.[14:50] Virgil makes Dante a promise about a beautiful woman's eyes. Who is this woman? And why is this promise never fulfilled in COMEDY?[19:48] A bit of the plot: the stench of lower hell and our first glimpse of the abyss.[22:00] A tomb with an inscription--to a pope! With maybe a bishop in tow! Who are these people? Might there be a writerly answer to this garbled passage?

Why is Farinata in the sixth circle of the heretics in hell? And why is he damned in the first place?The answers may lie in the structure of Canto X of INFERNO. It may also lie in the nature of the self as Dante understands it.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, in this interpolated episode of WALKING WITH DANTE. I'll step back from the weeds of Canto X to talk about Farinata, Cavalcante, the thematics of this wild canto, all in a way to get at the central problems of this canto, Dante's art, and the nature of the self for Dante.Please consider supporting this work with either a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend. You can do either <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">at this PayPal link</a>.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:04] Why is Farinata damned? Posthumously, he was accused of the Cathar heresy.[10:12] A look at the difference between Farinata and Cavalcante in Canto X.[12:39] The structure of Canto X: a chiasmus. Dante hides something from Virgil--Farinata arises--Cavalcante arises--Farinata continues--Dante tells Virgil everything. That means that Cavalcante is the fulcrum of the canto.[19:36] Farinata isn't the only one who tells the future. Back in Canto VI, Ciacco did, too. What's the difference?[24:40] Shame, vendetta, and the nature of the self for Dante.

We finish our time with Farinata with a discussion that gets stranger by the minute. There's definitely a camaraderie between our pilgrim and this Ghibelline warlord.The grander question? Is there a camaraderie between our poet and Farinata?There are many strange things in this passage toward the back of INFERNO, Canto X. 1) Farinata's discussion of how the damned see time. 2) Dante's desire to be absolved of something--but what? 3) Our pilgrim's attempts to mitigate the sufferings of the damned. And 4) our pilgrim as a peacemaker, someone who finally gets a Ghibelline to talk to a Guelph.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this strange conversation in INFERNO, a passage so rife with problems and unresolved issues that our poet will find the need to bring it up twice more: once in PURGATORIO and once in PARADISO.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:06] My English translation INFERNO: Canto X, lines 94 - 121a. If you'd like to read along, find a deeper study guide, or drop a comment to continue the conversation, please find this episode on my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:35] Camaraderie and even benevolence. Our pilgrim grants Farinata something that Farinata could never have had in this life: peace.[09:45] Our pilgrim asks a fundamental question: How do the damned know the future? At the same time, it seems he's misdirecting his real problem. Sure, he's asking to solve a metaphysical knot. But isn't there a personal knot that also needs to be untied?[13:06] Farinata offers a shocking answer about how the damned see time. What's more, the farthest point ever referenced in time is put in Farinata's mouth. Why not in St. Paul's? Or someone far more worthy?[21:05] The pilgrim finally repents--for the first time in COMEDY. But what exactly is he sorry for? And do his words cover his guilt?[27:24] Who else is in that tomb with Farinata? Two storied figures: one from history, Frederick II; and one with a family tree in COMEDY, Ottaviano degli Ubaldini.[31:55] Then Farinata withdraws, going as he arrived: in Stoic glory.

After out time with Cavalcante, that passage about human loss and suffering, we now return to Farinata, our Greco-Roman statue--who becomes less so over the course of the strange, twisty passage.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the roots of Dante's art: What does it mean to be human?Who loses their humanity in this passage? Not Farinata. Certainly not Cavalcante in the last passage. Instead, our pilgrim may be the one who still cannot overcome the cycles of shame and vendetta, who then loses his humanity at a moment when human loss seems most pressing.If you'd like to support this work, please consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend. You can set up either <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">at this PayPal link right here</a>. Thank you!Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:00] My English translation of INFERNO: Canto X, lines 73 - 93. If you'd like to see this passage, find a deeper study guide, or start a discussion about it with a comment on this episode, find it on the website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[04:24] A descent into the linguistic weeds, all about the term "magnanimo," used to describe Farinata and possibly a more difficult adjective that we might imagine.[11:16] Can politics and art even talk to each other? Or do they always talk past each other?[15:40] We're in a landscape of exiles: Virgil, Farinata, Cavalcante, his son, and even our pilgrim, Dante (as well as the poet in the shadows).[23:43] The scope of Farinata's humanity. No, he will never become a humanist! But he does soften. There may be historical reasons for that. And structural reasons from the poem.[27:44] How do you lose your humanity? And who is losing it in this passage?

In this passage from INFERNO, our poet (and our pilgrim) comes face to face with the suffering he caused. It takes a brave writer to face his fears head on.A shade rises up next to Farinata. This one's a Guelph, part of the faction that is Farinata's great enemy. This one's also Farinata's in-law, the man who married his son to Farinata's daughter. And this one is the father of a man our poet Dante sent into exile . . . and a man who died in exile.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore some of the most complicated bits of INFERNO that we've yet discovered, all about political and poetic rivalries, and the pain that humans inflict on each other with their blood-thirsty desire for tribalism.This is a tough passage, full of interpretive knots, some of which have kept scholars busy for centuries. I can't answer all the questions. My hope is that this episode starts you on a journey to figure out the passage (and others!) in COMEDY.To support this work, consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend, <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">using this PayPal link right here</a>.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[00:51] My English translation of INFERNO: Canto X, lines 52 - 72. If you'd like to see this translation, find a deeper study guide, or start a conversation with me, join me on my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[02:38] An overview of the rings of hell until now--and the way this sixth circle may differ from what's come before.[06:00] The arrival of Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti, hauling himself up onto his knees in the tomb next to Farinata. Who is this? And why is he so important to Dante?[08:55] Cavalcante's rather caustic reply to the pilgrim--which may tell more of the truth than he means. Dante is truly moving by his "high genius," despite the apparent sneer from the old man, who also reveals himself to be a doting father.[11:56] Who is Guido Cavalcanti, Dante's poetic rival?[15:53] The central point of the entire canto: Dante comes face to face with his complicity in the sufferings of Florence brought on by factionalism.[16:58] Surely, the most difficult line in all of COMEDY! Centuries of scholarship have not made it any clearer. But I have another answer, outside the traditional readings.[22:23] Cavalcante misunderstands the pilgrim. Misunderstanding may be the heart of the poet's notion of heresy. But there may be more afoot here. What if the poet is showing us that the pilgrim is not ready to use language properly because he is still sunk down in Florentine factionalism?[28:00] One structuring device that may at work in Canto X: Acts 17 and the moment St. Paul is questioned by the Stoics and Epicureans.[29:16] A second structuring device that may be at work in Canto X: the way Boethius in THE CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY weaves poetry and theology/philosophy together in one text.[31:29] Finally, the Dante scholar John (not Peter--sorry!) Took's fantastic notion that our poet may be trying to offer busy people a hint of the contemplative life by writing poetry that needs to be puzzled out.[34:23] Rereading INFERNO, Canto X, lines 52 - 72.

Rising out of the burning sarcophagus and pulling himself upright, Farinata confronts our pilgrim by interrupting Virgil.This is no ordinary encounter with the damned. This is an encounter with history, with someone who brought so much bloodshed to Dante's family and faction.What would happen if you met your historical enemy? The one who killed off swaths of your family? How would you treat them?Join me, Mark Scarbrough, on this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE in which we find out that even in INFERNO, even as far down as the sixth circle, human tribalism still runs hot.Consider supporting this podcast with a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend, <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">using this PayPal link right here</a>.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:42] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto X, lines 22 - 51. If you'd like to read along, find a deeper study guide, or drop a comment to continue the conversation, please go to my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[05:08] Who was Farinata?[09:56] Farinata as a twisted Christ figure.[14:37] Farinata and language.[20:53] Farinata and politics.[25:50] Can Farinata hold hell in contempt? Maybe there's an answer in Lucan's Pharsalia, Book VII[30:29] Rereading INFERNO, Canto X, lines 22 - 51.

Well within the sixth circle of hell, we haven't yet seen any of the damned. Instead, Dante, our pilgrim, and Virgil, his guide, are picking their way along a secret path between the burning sarcophagi and the walls of Dis.As these two go along, Virgil brings up the Last Judgment. And he starts to pick a fight with our pilgrim. Or maybe Virgil calls out our pilgrim who then responds with a little passive-aggressive anger.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we hear about cosmic divisions and interpersonal ones, picking our way with the pilgrim into the terrifying landscape of the heretics, buried in tombs in the sixth circle of INFERNO.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:47] My English translation of this passage from INFERNO: Canto X, lines 1 - 21. If you want to see this passage or find a deeper study guide, it's all on my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:21] One overarching point about the circle of the heretics: it's all about human divisions, about tribalism. Look for this thematic as we go forward.[04:29] My first gloss (or commentary on the text): The secret path is a reference to Vergil's AENEID, Book VI, line 443. In this passage, Aeneas comes to realize his complicity in the suffering of Dido.[06:32] My second gloss: Dante calls Virgil "highest virtue" (or maybe the "loftiest power," depending on how you want to translate it). Is Virgil that? You sure?[09:54] My third: There's a twisted reference to the resurrection of Christ in this passage--and that thematic will play out throughout Canto X, which riffs in irony off the resurrection.[11:23] My fourth: Virgil makes a reference to Jehoshaphat, the site of the Last Judgment according to the Old Testament prophet Joel.[13:48] My fifth: We are among the Epicureans. Why? And how can Epicurus, who lived long before the Christ, be a heretic?[20:15] Rereading the passage: INFERNO, Canto X, Lines 1 - 21.Mentioned in this episode:A brief introduction to the walk ahead

Finally, we're done with the fifth circle of hell, with the wrathful (and the sullen) and all that happens before the gates of Dis.Curiously, we're also done with the seven deadly sins as a structuring device for INFERNO. We now follow our pilgrim and Virgil into the sixth circle, not of envy, pride, or sloth, but of heresy.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we walk with Dante through the infernal underworlds on our way to the known universe. We've come to a circle of hell that proves a bit hard to figure out. Why heresy? And why here?Consider underwriting some of the many fees associated with hosting, licensing, streaming, and editing this work <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">by using this PayPal link right here</a>.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:00] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto IX, lines 107 - 133. If you'd like to read along, continue the conversation with me via a comment, or find a deeper study guide for this episode, please look for its entry on my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:48] Five general observations on the sixth circle of hell, the ring of the heretics. 1) They're in tombs INSIDE a city's walls. 2) There is no formal descent (or even a step down) to this circle. 3) The sin punished is not self-evident until Virgil explains it. 4) The sin itself--heresy--is a strange one in the poem's schematics where every sin seems to be about the will. And 5) Maybe heresy itself allows for writerly insecurity, as our poet steps beyond Virgil's imaginative landscape.[11:38] Six glosses (or notes) on this passage. 1) These are ROMAN tombs. 2) There's a curious reference to art (or craft) in the passage. 3) The tombs' lids are "suspended"--as Virgil is in Limbo. 4) The tombs are described as chests or arks--you know, like Noah's. 5) With heresy, the classical world has been left behind. And 6) Virgil leads Dante to the right, not the usual left.[24:26] Rereading the passage: INFERNO, Canto IX, lines 107 - 133.

How long have we been standing with the pilgrim and his guide in front of the walls of Dis? For ten episodes of this podcast!Now comes salvation . . . in the form of a messenger . . . from heaven? And who is this, so above the fracas of Styx?Salvation was always on the way. So what was everyone so worried about?To help underwrite the many fees associated with this work, please consider a small monthly stipend or a one-time gift, <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">using this PayPal link right here</a>.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:26] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto IX, lines 64 - 106. If you'd like to read along, continue the conversation with me, or find a deeper study guide for this episode, find its entry on my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[04:32] Our passage starts with two allusions out of Virgil's AENEID, one from early in the epic and one from near the end. These two get fused in front of the walls of Dis and offer us the full sweep of Virgil's epic just before we pass out of Virgil's imaginative landscape.[07:52] Then a simile from Ovid, that shows all the derring-do Dante-the-poet could ever muster as he renovates a strange allusion into a Christian context. Our poet is nothing if not brave![11:02] The messenger arrives. Jesus? Mercury? The Archangel Michael? Saint Peter? Hercules? Aeneas? The Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII? The devil in charge of this circle? Or all of them together? Jesus is the word of God made flesh. Mercury carries the words of the gods to mortals . . . and a medieval allegory for the good use of language. Maybe this figure is the coming of eloquence when a poet needs it most, when Dante is about to step away from his master's imaginative landscape and into his own.[17:29] We've had disdain from the demons, but here comes legitimate disdain, righteous and rather impatient, as the whole scene ends in its forgone conclusion.

This passage is surely the densest thicket of classical allegory we've yet encountered in INFERNO. The references are so heavy and quickly applied that the poet even steps out from behind the curtain to ask us to notice it all as a giant allegorical scheme in COMEDY.But a scheme of what? Which part of all this time among the wrathful is allegorical? All of it? Even Phlegyas' boat? Or just the Furies? Or just the threat of Medusa's arrival? Or even just Virgil's hands, which get placed over the pilgrim's eyes?To make matters worse, this passage starts with a distinct problem: Memory fails in a poem that promises memory won't. This passage is surely one of the most complicated ones we've yet encountered.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I explore this passage from INFERNO and get a bit lost in the weeds of classical literature--because Dante asks us to.To support this work, please consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend, <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">using this PayPal link right here</a>.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:06] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto IX, lines 34 - 63. If you'd like to read along, continue the conversation with me, or find a deeper study guide for this episode, please find its entry on my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[04:17] Memory fails! Understandable, sure, because the walls of Dis are terrifying. Problem is, our poet prayed for "unerring memory" back in INFERNO, Canto II.[05:50] The Furies arrive in their full horror--and maybe in their full allegory, too. We strike at the heart of this complicated passage in which we're asked to Christianize classical literature and "classicize" a Christian poem.[12:16] The pilgrim Dante presses close to Virgil. But maybe the poet does, too. Maybe the way out of too much classical imagery is to engage more deeply with . . . classical literature. Or maybe engage more humanly?[15:11] The threat of Medusa! She'll turn Dante to stone. But which him? The pilgrim or the poet? Maybe both. In any event, Virgil saves the pilgrim by blocking his vision. (Ahem!)[19:45] In the final tercet (three lines), the poet steps out and asks us to look behind the veil of his poetry. I've got four points to make sense of this complex request.Mentioned in this episode:A brief introduction to the walk ahead

We danced around with the witch Erichtho quite a bit in the last episode with seven interpretive stances toward and over her. (That is, seven possible ways she functions in the text, or seven ways to interpret her presence, all from a single line of medieval poetry).Which brings up a giant question for us as we walk with the pilgim: Did the poet intend all of this?Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I explore the various answers to that question over the ages to help us all understand how COMEDY could support all that the interpretive weight.To support this work, consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">using this PayPal link right here</a>.Here are the segments to this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:29] The medieval answer: Yes, he did.[04:22] The neoclassical answer: No, because the poem's a mess.[06:07] A more modern answer: No, but he did intend to build the open framework that could allow . . . no, encourage so much more. Here are five ways he built that structure.

At the end of INFERNO, Canto VIII, we left our pilgrim and his guide standing outside the walls of Dis, the city of hell. Virgil appeared to be a bit afraid but putting a good face on it for Dante-the-pilgrim.Now Virgil's doubts are more pronounced. (And maybe the poet's, too.) To compensate, Virgil launches into one of the strangest moments of INFERNO, the story of his descent to the bottom of hell, conjured by the witch Erichtho, a character in Lucan's PHARSALIA.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I get to this long-awaited passage, one of my favorites in INFERNO. Virgil becomes more fictional, gets a backstory made up out of whole cloth, from a bit of Lucan, all to land in a strange human place of faithful doubt or doubting faith.COMEDY is becoming more complex with every step.To support this work, consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend, <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">using this PayPal link right here</a>.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:00] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto IX, lines 1 - 33. If you'd like to read this passage, continue the conversation with me, or find a deeper study guide, find the entry for this episode on my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[02:58] Two notes on the fifth circle of hell, the ring of wrath. One, Virgil doesn't appear to be blocked by classical figures, only Christian ones. And two, it's in the circle of wrath that parental references become most pronounced.[05:58] Working through the passage without mentioning the witch Erichtho. Some of the passage's complexities, a moment in which the "fictional" quality of COMEDY deepens.[17:14] The witch Erichtho: her story in Lucan's PHARSALIA, and the ways in which Lucan rewrites Virgil's AENEID--and the ways in which Dante may rewrite Virgil. I offer seven interpretive knots Erichtho causes in COMEDY.[25:09] Seven possible interpretations for Erichtho (and Virgil) in COMEDY.

Virgil goes off to confer with the demons who slam shut the gates of Dis, shutting our pilgrim out in the fifth circle of INFERNO with no way forward.But perhaps more importantly, our pilgrim, Dante, has been left alone. He hasn't been all alone since the dark wood in Canto I.To compensate for the feeling that the pilgrim is abandoned, Virgil makes a beautiful promise. And he seems to get his own internal space, even a backstory.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the end of Canto VIII of INFERNO which may be one of the most resonant and human passages we've yet encountered in INFERNO. So much is changing in this great poem. Let's see if we can tease out the human problems, not just the classical references.To support this work, consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend, <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">using this PayPal link right here</a>.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:00] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto VIII, Lines 97 - 130. If you'd like to read along, continue the conversation with me about this episode via a comment, or find a deeper study guide for this passage, please find the entry for this podcast on my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:23] Our pilgrim's terror at being left alone (or perhaps the poet's terror at being left at the edge of Virgil's imaginative landscape).[08:16] Virgil's response to the pilgrim: a promise never to leave him--a promise Virgil is about to break.[11:39] The pilgrim's response--and the poet's technique of a unified point of view. Plus, Virgil's apparent doubts before the walls of Dis.[18:22] Virgil's reply: faith and encouragement, despite his doubts but with a bit of his backstory in tow.[26:42] Where are we? Which circle is this? What happened to our museum of the damned?

Our pilgrim, Dante and his guide, Virgil, have made it across Styx, leaving behind Filippo Argenti and the wrathful/sullen. Our main characters have now come to the iron walls of Dis, the city of hell.These walls are more than that a geopolitical barrier. They're also a literary barrier. Aeneas got no farther than this in the afterlife. In other words, here's the farthest Virgil's imagination could go.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we watch the poet come up to an important wall: the one Virgil couldn't (or didn't) pass. The poet must decide to go on. His folly is bearing in on him.To support this work, please consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">by using this PayPal link right here</a>.Here are the segments of this episode:[01:23] My English translation of INFERNO: Canto VIII, lines 64 - 96. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, or even to find a deeper study guide for this episode, please find its entry on my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[04:00] One way to think about hell: a two-part structure of the moments outside of Dis and the moments inside this city. The minarets of Dis are the poet's one last brushstroke on a Virgilian landscape painting. From here on, we're leaving the AENEID behind.[13:21] Our first Christian demons! It can't be a mistake that we encounter them here, on the walls of Dis, the farthest point Aeneas (and maybe the poet Virgil) reached.[14:55] Here's Dante's folly: He's beyond his mentor (or poetic father), Virgil. This may be a writer's insecurity writ large.[19:23] The first direct address to the reader. There will be seven in each of the three parts (or canticles) of the work. That the first occurs here can't be a mistake. This is the moment in which the poet's folly is beginning to bear in on him.