When Crossing Acheronte Into The First Ring Of Hell, Don't Faint: INFERNO, Canto III, Lines 109 - 136

We finish canto III of INFERNO, standing on the shores of Acheronte, the river that forms the border of the first rings of inner hell.

Charon is busy with this job, Virgil is suddenly gentler, more parental toward the pilgrim than he's been. And Dante? When the earthquake hits, he's beyond help.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we walk up to the shores of hell's first river and find ourselves adrift in a terrifying landscape.

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

[00:50] A summary of Canto III to this point.

[02:06] Reading my translation of INFERNO, Canto III, Lines 109 - 136. If you'd like to read along, find a much more in-depth study guide, or continue the conversation with me by dropping a comment, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:55] Two problems: the problem of pain in the afterlife and the problem of the demon Charon.

[09:18] The big simile in the passage (all about leaves, falcons, falling, casting, and lures): its problems, its dissonances, and its resonances.

[17:50] Virgil's explanation: Their fears have morphed into their desires. It's one of the most modern statements in INFERNO.

[23:34] Dante collapses. What happens here? Something fails. I'll give you three possible answers: The pilgrim fails, Virgil fails, or the poet fails.