INFERNO, Episode 116. Out Of Rage And Into Virgil's Arms: Inferno, Canto XIX, Lines 118 - 133

Our pilgrim, Dante, has finished his righteous rant. And after rage comes Virgil. More importantly, Virgil's embrace.

The pilgrim ends the canto in the arms of his poetic master. A curious ending to a curious canto.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we finish off Inferno, Canto XIX, ready to move on with the next steps of our pilgrim.

Here are the segments of this podcast episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:21] My English translation of the passage: Inferno, Canto XIX, Lines 118 - 133. If you'd like to read along, just scroll down.

[02:39] The rant is surrounded by words about music--and thus, about poetry. What does that tell us about Dante-the-poet's attitude toward this passage?

[06:24] Why is Virgil so pleased with Dante? Because Comedy completes the work of The Aeneid.

[11:42] One last passing slap at the popes in hell: "goats."

And here’s my English translation of Inferno, Canto XIX, lines 118 - 133:

The whole time I sang these notes to him,

Whether he was chomped by anger or conscience,

He kicked out both his feet as hard as he could.

I truly believe my leader was pleased with me,

Because he gave me a look with such contented lips

When he heard the sound of the true words so expressed.

Because of that, he wrapped both of his arms around me.

And when he’d lifted me tight against his chest,

He went back up the path he’d come down.

He didn’t wear out from holding me so close,

So that he took me up to the summit of the arch

That transverses from the fourth to the fifth dike.

Here he carefully set down his burden,

So gently because of the steep, rough ridge

That would have been a hard road even for goats.

And there another valley opened up before me.