Straight On, Then Right For The Burning Tombs Of The Heretics: INFERNO, Canto IX, Lines 107 - 133

Finally, we're done with the fifth circle of hell, with the wrathful (and the sullen) and all that happens before the gates of Dis.

Curiously, we're also done with the seven deadly sins as a structuring device for INFERNO. We now follow our pilgrim and Virgil into the sixth circle, not of envy, pride, or sloth, but of heresy.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we walk with Dante through the infernal underworlds on our way to the known universe. We've come to a circle of hell that proves a bit hard to figure out. Why heresy? And why here?

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

[01:00] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto IX, lines 107 - 133. If you'd like to read along, continue the conversation with me via a comment, or find a deeper study guide for this episode, please look for its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:48] Five general observations on the sixth circle of hell, the ring of the heretics. 1) They're in tombs INSIDE a city's walls. 2) There is no formal descent (or even a step down) to this circle. 3) The sin punished is not self-evident until Virgil explains it. 4) The sin itself--heresy--is a strange one in the poem's schematics where every sin seems to be about the will. And 5) Maybe heresy itself allows for writerly insecurity, as our poet steps beyond Virgil's imaginative landscape.

[11:38] Six glosses (or notes) on this passage. 1) These are ROMAN tombs. 2) There's a curious reference to art (or craft) in the passage. 3) The tombs' lids are "suspended"--as Virgil is in Limbo. 4) The tombs are described as chests or arks--you know, like Noah's. 5) With heresy, the classical world has been left behind. And 6) Virgil leads Dante to the right, not the usual left.

[24:26] Rereading the passage: INFERNO, Canto IX, lines 107 - 133.