INFERNO, Episode 50. The Second Great Sinner Of Hell, Farinata degli Uberti: Inferno, Canto X, Lines 22 - 51

What happens when you meet history face to face? And not one of the greats, not some hero. Rather, your arch enemy, someone who caused your family so much pain.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we find Dante, our pilgrim, face to face with Farinata degli Uberti, one of the great sinners of hell, one of the great warlords of Florence, one of the men who caused Dante’s family such pain, and one of the men who also saved Florence from utter ruin. History is complicated. Awful. Conflicted. Our pilgrim, too.

Here is my English translation of INFERNO, Canto X, lines 22 - 51:

“O Tuscan, who is still alive in this city of fire

And goes about speaking such courteous words,

Pray be pleased to stay a moment in this place.

“Your elocution makes it evident that

You are one of those from the noble fathers of that city

To which I might have caused too much damage.”

So suddenly did the sound of this one

Come out of one of the chests that it startled me

And made me pull a little closer to my guide.

And he said to me, “Turn around! What are you doing?

Look at Farinata right there, who has pulled himself upright.

You can see all of him from the waist up.”

I’d already set my eyes on his as he rose

With his chest and brow pitched up

As if he held hell in great contempt.

Meanwhile, the sure and animated hand of my guide

Was nudging me toward his sepulcher,

Even as he said to me, “Make sure you count your words.”

When I was at the foot of his tomb,

He glanced at me and then, almost with disdain,

Asked me, “Who were your ancestors?”

I had a great desire to comply,

And hid nothing from him, but told him everything,

Which caused him to lift his eyebrows a little.

Then he said, “They were stark enemies to me,

My family, and my faction—

So much so that I had to drive them out twice.”

“If they were cast out,” I replied to him,

“They came back from every place both the first time and the other.

Your type, on the other hand, has never learned that art.”