Our nameless barrator has been ripped open--but he's still able to do what grifters do best: sell out his fellow grifters.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at a passage from the fifth of the malebolge, the evil pouches, that make up the eighth circle of fraud in INFERNO. We're among the political grifters--and this one, forked up by the demons, is a particularly oily fellow.

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

[01:33] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXII, lines 76 - 93. If you'd like to see this passage, just scroll down this page.

[03:14] More about how to be a good grifter (stay anonymous!) and possibly the most horrifying line of INFERNO so far.

[06:00] Friar Gomita and the possible history of this figure our barrator names.

[09:21] Two things of interest in our grifter's speech: he names a member of the clergy among what we might consider a secular sin and behind this story lies Nino Visconti, a figure we'll meet far ahead in Purgatorio.

[14:41] This passage is full of inversions--and in fact, the whole of the fifth evil pouch is full of inversions.

[19:03] The second named barrator: Don Michael Zanke, a shadowy figure without a lot of real history behind him.

[21:51] This entire passage looks ahead to Canto XXXIII of INFERNO--which might offer us a clue about Dante's writerly technique.

[25:27]The wily fear of our nameless barrator.

And here is my English translation of Inferno, Canto XXII, Lines 76 – 93

 When they all hushed their fury a bit,

And the guy was still staring at his open lacerations,

My leader grabbed at another chance to ask him,

 

“Who was it you mentioned, from whom you took

Your miserable departure to come to the bank?”

And he replied, “It was Friar Gomita,

 

“The guy out of Gallura, who’s the very urn of fraud,

Who had his master’s enemies in his hand

And handled them so that each one sings his praises.

 

“He took their cash and on the sly let them get away,

Or so he says. And in other official duties,

He wasn’t a small-time grifter, but a kingpin.

 

“He’s always hanging around Don Michael Zanche

Of Logudoro. When they talk about Sardinia,

Their tongues just won’t wear out.

 

“Oh my, look at that one, snarling through his teeth!

I’d go on chatting but I’m afraid he’s

Getting ready to claw my scaly bits.”