The beast of fraud has breached. And Virgil's got some negotiating to do. So he sends Dante the pilgrim alone along the edge of the cliff to see the sinners sitting "over there."

Wait! Classical poetry has to convince fraud to do something? How? And why does classical poetry suddenly tell the "modern" pilgrim to walk on by himself? And how come we can't hear those negotiations between Virgil and fraud?

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at this strange passage in what's often seen as a mere "waiting room" of a canto, a transitional space between the circles of hell, but which might well be more filled with meaning than so many have allowed it in the past.

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

[01:12] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XVII, Lines 28 - 45. If you want to read along, just look below.

[02:29] Virgil and the pilgrim move on down, but do they turn to the right? I think so, but many big-time Dantistas think not. What would that right turn mean?

[06:21] They take ten steps. Ten? Is that symbolic? Or does it tell us something about the growing sense of the poem's technique?

[08:32] Lie--run--sit: the three positions of those in the third rung of the circle of violent, those violent against God. Those sitting are on the edge of violence, right at the lip of fraud--because their sin is a piece of both.

[10:55] Virgil's conversation with the beast of fraud is dropped from the text. What's up with that?

[13:37] Dante the pilgrim goes it alone along the edge. Surely, given all that's happened, there's a thematic value in this moment when our pilgrim sets out by himself to see some sinners.

And here is my English translation of Inferno, Canto XVII, Lines 28 – 45:

My leader said, “Now we’ve got to change

Course a bit, heading over there

Where the foul beast has pulled himself up.”

So we clambered down on the right-hand side

And took ten steps along the edge,

Taking care to keep clear of the sand and its flames.

And when we got close to the thing,

A little farther on I saw some people

Sitting on the sand right where it drops off.

That’s when my master said to me, “So that you go back with

The full experience of this circle of hell,

Go and see what’s up with those guys.

“But cut your conversation short!

While you’re away, I’ll talk to this thing

To see if we can’t get a ride on its strong shoulders.”

And so along the very edge of the

Seventh circle I went all alone

To where those people sat in their misery.