We've been through some dramatic passages: dark woods, wild beasts, Francesca, and Cerberus. But nothing rivals the crossing of (river? swamp?) Styx in the fifth circle of INFERNO.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we take a slow walk through this passage about our pilgrim Dante's time among the wrathful. We'll ferry across and almost get capsized along with him and Virgil.

This passage is loaded: Bible verses, strange references, thematics picked up from previous passages, thematics setting up future passages. These lines deserve a slow walk.

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

[01:24] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto VIII, Lines 31 - 63. If you want to see this passage or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:19] An overview of the passage, including some notes on how famous this passage has become because of its references in other works.

[05:26] A figure rises out of Styx! He and our pilgrim start into a game of insults. But insults are never simple in a world controlled by vendetta.

[12:00] Our pilgrim Dante gets angry--and Virgil approves.

[13:11] A long section on unpacking Virgil's response to the pilgrim's anger: Bible verses, Messianic gestures, lots of questions about justice, divine or human.

[24:59] Filippo Argenti, the sinner from the muck, is a Black Guelph, the arch enemies of Dante and the White Guelphs . . . which means this passage is about vendetta.