We're starting to walk along the first of the evil pouches with our pilgrim and his guide, Virgil. Down below, naked people are being whipped by horned demons. This is the hell we expected!
Except maybe not. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I explain some of the historical and cultural references in a passage that may have a garbled bit at its very core. Is that garbling intentional? We'll have to wait for later in the canto to decide.
Here are the segments of this episode on Inferno, Canto XVIII, lines 22 - 39 of the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE:
[00:51] My English translation of Inferno, Canto XVIII, lines 22 - 39. If you want to read along, you can find this translation on my website, markscarbrough.com.
[02:18] A fine example of Dantean technique: seeding the passage with hints of things to bloom later on. Plus, historical resonances in this jammed pouch of the eighth circle of hell, as well as a possible garbling of the passage in terms of which direction who's walking at any given moment.
[07:46] The demons appear! And they don't disappoint! They're also a complex parody of Paradise itself.
[12:34] The historical analogy in the middle of the passage. It's about the Jubilee Year of plenary indulgences that Pope Boniface VIII called in 1300. But what's it doing here, in our first blush with fraud?