We're down among the scandal makers and the schismatics in the ninth of the evil pouches (the "malebolge") that make up the great circle of fraud in Dante's INFERNO.
We've heard Muhammad talk about his mutilation--and now we have the answer to his question as to who the pilgrim is. But Dante doesn't answer. Virgil does. And his answer provokes the most shocking line in all of INFERNO.
You might miss it. But join me, Mark Scarbrough, to catch this miraculous utterance in all its truth.
Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:31] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto XXVIII, lines 46 - 63. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment about this passage, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.
[03:03] Virgil's reply to Muhammad, much like his replies to other great, up-market figures in hell.
[04:49] Virgil's (new?) explanation for COMEDY: the encyclopedic vision.
[06:49] Fra Dolcino and his heresy among The Apostolic Brethren.
[10:31] The important backdating of COMEDY.
[11:44] The fracturing of the lines of poetry among the schismatics.
[13:42] Muhammad as a stumbling block, rather than a schismatic.
[15:54] The most shocking lines in all of INFERNO.
[19:53] A rereading of all of the Muhammad passages in INFERNO: Canto XXVIII, lines 22 - 63.