INFERNO, Episode 210. Behold Satan: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, Lines 1 - 27

We've come to the final revelation of INFERNO, to its climax: the vision of Satan himself, called "Dis" by Virgil (after his own king of the underworld in THE AENEID).

The emperor of the kingdom of woe scares the lights out of the pilgrim--and out of the poet. Our final revelation may well be that the poet has gone as far as he can with his infernal poetics. Now he must find new words to express what's ahead.

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

[01:28] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 1 - 27. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please scroll down this page.

[04:31] Satan is at the center of the universe and at the farthest point from God.

[07:39] You can never say, "The devil made me do it."

[10:12] Virgil begins Canto XXXIV with an infernal twist on a Lenten Latin hymn.

[12:33] Why hasn't Virgil been speaking in Latin all along?

[13:34] What is Virgil doing with this Latin hymn? Is he praising his own king? Or is he making fun of Christ?

[14:56] There are seven Latin words or phrases in INFERNO.

[17:30] Satan is merely structure: an edifice.

[19:19] The pilgrim and poet are starting to fuse in the face of the vision of Satan.

[19:58] The damned are fully frozen in ice, a place of great silence.

[20:49] Canto XXXIV has many resonances with the neutrals in Canto III.

[22:12] The imagery of Satan is based on a Christian interpretation from a passage in the prophecies of Isaiah.

[25:13] The pilgrim is frozen--thus in tune with the landscape and maybe with the damned as well.

[26:48] What does "both dead and alive" mean? Four hypotheses.

[32:21] Rereading the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 1 - 27.

And here’s my English translation of Inferno, Canto XXXIV, Lines 1 – 27

“Vexilla regis prodeunt inferni

In front of us—look straight out there,”

My master said, “and see if you can check him out.”

As when a great fog exhales around you

Or when our hemisphere turns to night,

A windmill may appear to be turning far out on the horizon,

So I now seemed to see just such a structure.

Then because of the wind, I took shelter behind

My master, because there was no other cave to tuck inside.

I was now—and I shudder to even put this into verse—

At the place where the shades were fully covered up,

Showing through like bits of straw through a pane of glass.

Some were lying flat out; some, standing straight up:

One with his head on top; another with his feet on top;

And others bent like bows, their faces to their toes.

And when we’d finally walked far enough,

It pleased my master to show me

The creature who had once appeared so beautiful.

So he stepped aside and brought me to a stop.

“Behold Dis,” he said. “And behold the place

Where you must steel yourself with all your internal fortitude.”

How frozen and faint-hearted I became at that moment—

Don’t ask me, reader. I can’t write it down

Because every known word would still not be enough.

I didn’t drop dead, but I certainly didn’t remain alive.

Think for yourself, if you’ve got enough imagination,

What I’d become: both dead and alive at once.