In the third circle of INFERNO, Dante-the-pilgrim finds an emblematic glutton, Ciacco. This strange soul offers us a few problems. He mixes gluttony with another sin, thereby complicating the structure of the rings of hell in Dante's poem (and maybe of theology itself). He is the first damned soul to recognize Dante-the-pilgrim by the dialect he speaks. And he himself remains to this day a mysterious figure, obscured in the mists of time (although the subject of so much commentary over the centuries).

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for this slow walk through THE DIVINE COMEDY. We've stepped down into the muck of gluttony--and mystery, too. Let's talk about the social unrest that gluttony causes. And let's talk for a minute about the strange nature of Dante's art that sets the tone for Western literature for the next seven hundred years.

Here are the segments of the episode:

[01:18] My English translation of this passage from INFERNO: Canto VI, lines 34 - 57. If you'd like to see this translation, visit my website, markscarbrough.com.

[02:56] Questions about the materiality of spirit (or soul)--and why those questions may not be important right now (despite my having danced with them for so long).

[08:26] Some unbelievably gorgeous poetry in the canto--and its importance to a larger purpose.

[10:40] The first big problem: the fusion of two sins in a canto that's supposed to punish just one.

[14:58] Some thoughts about gluttony as a sin--and the ways the canto begins to link gluttony and politics in a world of supreme scarcity.

[18:18] Who is Ciacco? Lots of historical answers--and my notion that our inability to know him may be part of the point.

[22:38] The hallmark of Dante-the-poet's art: the ability to craft a story in the crack (the liminal space) that lies between allegory and realism.

[29:14] I read the passage once again because it's important to hear it after we've discussed it.