The Sins Of Violence Explained (Sort Of): INFERNO, Canto XI, Lines 28 - 51

Virgil begins to detail his mappa mundi--or perhaps his mappa inferno--with a longer look at the seventh circle of hell, the next we'll encounter.

He's already explained what's ahead: injustice and malice, force and fraud. Now he's going to make a fuller explanation of force--that is, violence.

But violence is not a simple sin. Nor even a halved sin, like anger and sullenness. Instead, violence is divided into parts or categories.

What's more, it's roots are a complicated network of Aquinas, the Gospels, Cicero, Aristotle, Boethius, and old Roman law.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through Virgil's highly structured but still knotty explanation of the three smaller rings in the seventh circle of hell--and the rationale for how all these sins are contained under the larger rubric of "violence."

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

[02:16] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto XI, lines 28 - 51. If you want to see this translation, offer a comment on this episode, or find a study guide for deeper analysis, look for this episode on my website: markscarbrough.com.

[04:42] Virgil's explanation of the seventh circle. He begins by dividing violence into three parts: against God, against yourself, and against your neighbor.

[14:38] The first of the inner rings in the seventh circle: violence against your neighbor and your neighbor's goods.

[17:06] The second of the inner rings: violence against yourself and your own property.

[22:04] The third of the inner rings: violence against God, which itself takes three forms.

[29:18] A brief overview of the circle of the violent, the most unnatural part of hell we've yet encountered.

Mentioned in this episode:

A brief introduction to the walk ahead