Dante, our pilgrim, comes upon Ciacco, the emblematic glutton, who gives us readers more questions than answers in this passage from The Divine Comedy.
Read MoreThe third circle of hell: the gluttons, a dumbfounded Dante, a snarling Cerberus, and Virgil, who rewrites his own epic, The Aeneid.
Read MoreLong seen as one of the oiliest sinners, maybe Francesca is much more: a character who escapes not only the pilgrim, but Dante himself, her creator.
Read MoreIn Inferno, Canto V, we meet the first great sinner: Francesca (and her lover Paolo). In this episode of the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE, I’ll build a case against Francesca, showing her to be the gravest threat yet to our pilgrim as he walks across the known universe.
Read MoreDante asked Virgil who's out on the wind. Virgil answers with a list of the "great" souls on the wind--but much more: a surprising redefinition of lust.
Read MoreWe've left Minos behind and stepped into the winds of lust: a relentless storm that provokes a gorgeous simile as the pilgrim stares into this abyss.
Read MoreIn this interpolated episode of the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE, I’ll introduce a historical overview of the deadly sins: why these sins? And why are there seven of them? Who decided which sins “count”? And how does that affect Dante’s art?
Read MoreThe second circle of Dante's INFERNO--a stranger place than the last, with a sure judge who might even be able to tell the truth about Virgil.
Read MoreWhy has Dante's THE DIVINE COMEDY lasted 700 years? Its architecture, its invitation to multiplicity, and its very human motivation: love.
Read MoreWe finally come to the crowd in Limbo's castle: a great list of warriors, thinkers, writers, geometers, physicians, and (yes) Islamic writers.
Read MoreDante gets put in the company of the great poets. Problem is, they're in hell. Also, Dante's not written enough. The passages in Inferno get curiouser.
Read MoreVirgil answers Dante's question: Does anyone get out of Inferno? Yes! But maybe not the one soul who matters. Not Virgil, Dante's poetic father.
Read MoreLimbo is Dante's first donnybrook, his first beef with Christian theology in THE DIVINE COMEDY. He changes church doctrine. Because he's Dante.
Read MoreVirgil leads Dante home--to Virgil's home, that is. To Limbo, the place where babies sigh. Virgil also offers a theology of Limbo. But is it believable?
Read MoreCharon's off at his job. Virgil's gotten suddenly kinder. And Dante? He's not in good shape, standing on the shore of the river that borders hell.
Read MoreThe shore of hell! Here comes Charon and his boat. Here are the damned, waiting to cross. And here are Virgil and Dante, having a spat.
Read MoreThe first bit of hell we see is the hell we've always wanted, a sadist's dream. Except what's being punished? The failure to make up your mind.
Read MoreDante and Virgil arrive at hell's gate. Virgil's response is certainly strange. A cheerful look? Stranger still, those words over the gate. Abandon hope!
Read MoreVirgil has bested Dante. He's given him purpose and hope. And Beatrice has given desire and rhetoric. He needs nothing else to set off across the cosmos.
Read MoreVirgil and Beatrice are at war! Well, not really. A war of words. Rhetoric. They have to use language to get what they want. Like Dante, both poet and pilgrim. Who’s also strangely missing from this scene in THE DIVINE COMEDY.
Curiouser and curiouser, Alice. We’re headed down the rabbit hole.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I take a look at the next-to-the-last passage in Canto II of Dante’s INFERNO. Walk with us. We’re just headed across the universe.
Here’s my rough English translation of the passage for his episode:
Inferno Canto II: 76 – 114
“Lady of virtue, through whom alone
Humankind goes beyond what is contained
In the smallest circle of heaven,
Your command pleases me so much
That instant obedience would seem tardy.
You have to do no more than reveal your desire.
But tell me the reason you don’t guard yourself
When you descend to this central point
From the expansive place where you long to be?”
“’Since you have such a deep yearning to know,’
She replied, “I will briefly tell you
Why I am not afraid to come here.
“’You should fear only those things
That have the power to harm you. Other things, not so much.
Those don’t cause fear.
“’I am made by God, by his grace,
So that your pain doesn’t touch me,
Nor can I these flames hurt me.
“’In heaven, there is a gracious lady,
Moved with a great deal of pity for the one I’m sending you to—
In fact, firm decrees have been broken by her.
“’This lady summoned Lucy and said,
“’”Your faithful one now needs you,
And I turn him over to your hand.”
“Lucy, the enemy of all cruelty,
Got up and came to where I sat
With the ancient Rachel,
“’And said, ”Beatrice, truly praiseworthy of God,
Why do you not aid the one
Who left the common crowd because of his full love for you.
“’”Do you not hear his sorrowful anguish
Or see how he is beset by death
In a flood that swells larger than the sea?”
“’No one on earth was ever so fast
To gain an advantage or escape from loss
As I was when those words were spoken.
“’I came down here from my blessed throne,
Placing my trust in your noble [or virtuous] speech
Which honors you and everyone who pays attention to it.’”