hBjcDQfnMguRXVnjTNgM Mark Scarbrough's WALKING WITH DANTE: The Bottom Of Hell, The Beginnings Of Western Civilization In INFERNO, Canto XXX, Lines 91 - 103 - Walking With Dante

Episode 185

The Bottom Of Hell, The Beginnings Of Western Civilization: INFERNO, Canto XXX, Lines 91 - 103

Published on: 24th August, 2022

We are almost done with the tenth of the evil pouches (the "malebolge") that make up the giant eighth circle of INFERNO, the vast landscape of hell.

We've met several falsifiers and have spent some time with the consummate narcissist, Master Adam--who has managed to stop talking about himself long enough to point out two more falsifiers when the pilgrim Dante asks who they are.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for this episode about the very roots of Western civilization and the Christian redemption story, all found down here toward the bottom of hell and the center of Dante's universe.

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

[02:12] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto XXX, lines 91 - 103. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:57] The low comedy in this passage (and in the last evil pouch of fraud in INFERNO).

[07:14] Potiphar's wife and Sinon, steaming with fever in this tenth pit.

[10:42] A fourth disease in the tenth pit: a fever in the blood. And a fourth type of falsifier: those who tell lies in court.

[13:10] Adam, Potiphar's wife, and Sinon = the beginnings of everything Dante values.

[15:14] Potiphar's wife and Sinon = two liars who start the stories of two sets of chosen people.

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About the Podcast

Walking With Dante
A passage-by-passage stroll through Dante’s DIVINE COMEDY with Mark Scarbrough
Ever wanted to read Dante's Divine Comedy? Come along with us! We're not lost in the scholarly weeds. (Mostly.) We're strolling through the greatest work (to date) of Western literature. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I take on this masterpiece passage by passage. I'll give you my rough English translation, show you some of the interpretive knots in the lines, let you in on the 700 years of commentary, and connect Dante's work to our modern world. The pilgrim comes awake in a dark wood, then walks across the known universe. New episodes every Sunday and Wednesday.
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Mark Scarbrough

Former lit professor, current cookbook writer, creator of two podcasts, writer of thirty-five (and counting) cookbooks, author of one memoir (coming soon!), married to a chef (my cookbook co-writer, Bruce Weinstein), and with him, the owner of two collies, all in a very rural spot in New England. My life's full and I'm up for more challenges!