Watch Out For Those Impersonators: INFERNO, Canto XXX, Lines 34 - 45
We've been to Thebes and Troy. We've seen two rabid souls arrive to tear up old Capocchio and maybe the other alchemist. But who are these rabid pigs?Impersonators. People who pretend to be who they'r...
17 Aug 202228min
Contagion, Fraud, And The Fall Of Civilizations: INFERNO, Canto XXX, Lines 1 - 33
We've come to the most complex opening of any canto in INFERNO. Canto XXX opens with two, long allusions about the tragedy of Thebes and Troy, both of which morph into similes for the damned, a mediev...
14 Aug 202235min
Gossip About The Fools Of This World Is About As Human As It Gets: INFERNO, Canto XXIX, Lines 124 - 139
A second figure speaks up--this time, a leper named Capocchio who wants to gossip about the fools of Siena and find a personal connection with our pilgrim, Dante.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look a...
10 Aug 202229min
Laughter Is The Best Medicine, Even In Hell: INFERNO, Canto XXIX, Lines 109 - 123
The first falsifier in the tenth of the evil pouches of fraud (those famed "malebolge") steps up to tell his tale: a funny joke about grifting, the stupidity of his mark, and the unexpected whims of d...
7 Aug 202227min
How To Hold Onto Your Humanity, Even In Hell: INFERNO, Canto XXIX, Lines 73 - 108
We've come to the final evil pouch (or "malebolge") in the giant, hellish circle of fraud, Dante's largest piece of real estate in all of COMEDY.This last pit is also one of the more disgusting spots ...
3 Aug 202235min
A Medieval Hospital Of Horrors: INFERNO, Canto XXIX, Lines 37 - 72
The pilgrim, Dante, and his guide, Virgil, finally come to the last of the ten evil pouches of fraud (those famed "malebolge")--and wow, it's a doozy!They walk above a medieval malarial ward, full of ...
31 Jul 202234min
You Can Solve Your Family's Vendetta Even In Hell: INFERNO, Canto XXIX, Lines 1 - 36
You thought we were done with the ninth pit of fraud and the schismatics? No way! We're still there, no matter if Bertran de Born's appearance felt like an ending.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look ...
27 Jul 202246min
Bertran de Born, The Rationale For Inferno, & The Dangers Of Poetry: INFERNO, Canto XXVIII, Lines 112 - 142
We end the crowded ninth evil pouch of the schismatics with . . . a poet: Bertran de Born. A poet Dante had previously praised. A poet who wrote poetry that is a direct influence on Dante's earlier wo...
24 Jul 202249min
