The Second Circle Of Hell And Minos, The Connoisseur Of Sin: Inferno, Canto V, Lines 1 - 24

In Canto V of INFERNO, we've come to the second circle of hell, where the winds of lust howl. But not quite yet. First, we must meet a connoisseur of sin: Minos. He determines which circle of hell you belong in. With a couple of exceptions. Because it's Dante--who's always restless, never quite settled!

As we walk slowly across the universe in THE DIVINE COMEDY, we should expect to find things that puzzle us. And here, as usual, part of the problem is Virgil. Is he the sure guide he pretends to be?

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, in this episode of the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE as we descend a level and push further, yes, into hell, but also into irony, opacity, and puzzlement.

Here are the segments of this episode:

[00:54] My English translation of this passage from INFERNO: Canto V, Lines 1 - 24. You can find this passage on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[02:47] The descent from the first circle to the second--and thoughts on the increasingly clear landscape of hell.

[04:48] Minos, the sure judge. I'll give you the passage from THE AENEID from which Dante-the-poet cribs this figure. And offer a couple of interpretive issues. Fiurst, he appears to judge without words. And second, he's not a traditional demon at all.

[11:29] Questions about determinism ("bad-born soul")--but more importantly, answers about the nature of grace. That is, one must accept the gifts of grace when they're offered. or to put it another way, to be damned is to accept the gifts of grace too late.

[16:22] The judgment itself, as Minos wraps his tail around himself--except this brings up further questions of Limbo and we're reminded again of its stangeness.

[19:51] Hell as a landscape with a traveler's motel! And lots about Virgil: Minos' warning, Virgil's spell that works again, and the very strangeness of Virgil himself, the embodiment of the ambivalence of Limbo, following us (and leading the pilgrim!) across the universe.