INFERNO, Episode 138. Virgil Gawks: Inferno, Canto XXIII, Lines 109 - 126

We finally arrive at a moment that even our guide Virgil cannot believe.

Why? Why is he caught slack-jawed?

The answer is more complicated than you might think.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we find that the sixth pit of the subsets of fraud is not just about friars walking around in gilded, leaden cloaks. Rather, it's also about the punishment of figures out of the New Testament. And the Jews. It's a crazy passage with lots of knots. So let's undo them.

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

[01:11] My English translation of the passage: Inferno, Canto XXIII, lines 109 - 126. If you'd like to read along, you can find this passage on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:38] Hypocrisy is a deadly sin, not a minor one.

[05:45] Dante's interrupted invective--that is, the misdirection of this passage (and maybe this whole canto).

[08:40] Who is crucified on the ground? Caiaphas, the high priest who spoke the truth in the Gospel of St. John without knowing he did.

[14:03] Structural concerns in the passage--that is, doubling, here and throughout Canto XXIII.

[16:41] A few words about antisemitism in COMEDY.

[19:58] Virgil gawks--but why? Three reasons without a definitive conclusion.

And here’s my English translation of Inferno, Canto XXIII, Lines 109 – 126

I started up with, “Oh, friars, your evil ways. . . .”

But I didn’t say anything else because my eyes caught sight

Of one who was crucified with three stakes on the ground.

When he saw me, he had a writhing fit,

Puffing out his beard with lots of sighs.

Friar Catalano realized what was going on

And said to me, “The one nailed here, the guy you stare at,

Counseled the Pharisees that it was expedient

For one man to be martyred for the rest of the populace.

“He is stretched out and naked on the road,

As you see, and he must first feel the heavy tread

Of each of us as we pass this way.

“His father-in-law also lies stretched out across

The floor of this ditch, as are the rest of that council,

Who sewed the evil seed among the Jews.”

At that, I saw Virgil slack-jawed

About this one who was pulled into the shape of a cross,

A dishonorable fate for the rest of this eternal exile.