The Three Faces Of Interpretation . . . Or Satan: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, Lines 28 - 45

We're about to get a good look at Satan, closer and closer, until we can see the color of his faces. Yes, faces. Three of them. Some trinitarian perversion lies at the center of the universe.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we walk up to Satan with Dante, our pilgrim, and Virgil, his guide. We're nearing the end of the infernal landscape. And we're finding out what will replace it: awe.

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

[01:25] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 28 - 45. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website: markscarbrough.com.

[03:15] The relationship between this vision of Satan and the one in the Baptistry mosaics in Florence.

[05:21] Satan as a most ineffective emperor.

[06:57] Satan's size: the bedevilment of Dantistas for centuries.

[09:16] The sheer hollowness of the earth--or the center of the universe.

[10:18] Satan's beauty and apparently his very minor rebellion.

[11:53] Fear gone, marvel or wonder ahead.

[14:33] The heresy in the passage: Satan as the source of anything.

[16:35] The many interpretations of the colors of Satan's three faces.