The Way Down Is The Way Up: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, Lines 70 - 93

We've seen it all. Now we just have to get out. And to do that, we have to make a big turnaround on Virgil's shoulders. Right at Satan's butt.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we pass the center point in the universe, a place where the action of grace suddenly comes into focus. Satan is the way out of hell. Satan is the pivot for the entire universe. The way down has been the way up all along.

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

[01:38] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 70 - 93. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website: markscarbrough.com.

[04:18] What is Dante-the-pilgrim's motivation? How does he know to grab on to Virgil?

[05:25] Virgil is the only one who can get them out of hell. Is that thematic? Part of the poetics? Or the theology?

[06:43] Dante-the-pilgrim never touches Satan. Is that thematic? Part of the allegory? Why can Virgil touch Satan?

[08:14] Satan is not held in place by the ice sheet of Cocytus.

[09:12] Satan is very anatomical, almost a cut of meat.

[11:13] Satan's anus is the center of the universe. Or maybe his genitals.

[13:12] Does Satan need a digestive tract?

[15:22] Do Satan and the angels need genitals?

[18:10] Dante-the-pilgrim is confused about Satan's directionality but never about Virgil's.

[20:12] This passage echoes the descent on Geryon's back in its rhyme at the same spot (lines 82 and 84).

[22:27] Satan is now upside down--and named with his Christian title for the first time.

[24:08] Why is Dante-the-poet irritated at those who don't get it? The beginning of reason and the intellect!

[27:08] The three instances of "felix culpa" (fortunate fall) in this passage: Satan is the way out, Satan is the axis for the universe, and the way down has been the way up all along.