We're in the eighth circle of hell, INFERNO's vast landscape of fraud. And we're way down in the eight of the evil pouches (the malebolge) that make up this most mucky and disgusting place--which holds one of the most noble and revered figures from classical poetry: Ulysses.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we get our first glimpse of Ulysses, trapped inside a tongue of fire with his compatriot, Diomedes. Virgil offers us an explanation for their damnation. We'll explore that bit first before we find out the ways Virgil gets it wrong.

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

[01:21] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXVI, lines 49 - 63. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment about this episode, visit my website, markscarbrough.com.

[04:18] What do we make of the pilgrim Dante's eagerness in this passage?

[07:04] What can we make of this divided flame and the classical reference to Eteocles?

[11:33]   Dante does not know Homer's works but he knows about Ulysses (or Odysseus) from many other sources.

[13:22] What can we make of the reference to the vendetta theme in this passage?

[14:47] What can we make of the reference to the Trojan horse and the insemination metaphor that follows this reference in Dante's poem?

[20:41] What can we make of the reference to Daidamia and Achilles in the poem?

[24:44] What is the Palladium that Ulysses and Diomedes steal?

[27:19] Not every source Dante knew condemned Ulysses. Take Horace and Cicero, for examples.

[29:19] Christian neo-Platonists used Ulysses as an allegory for the soul's journey, an interpretation Dante knew well.

[32:13] Rereading the passage: Inferno, Canto XXVI, lines 49 - 63.

And here is my English translation of Inferno, Canto XXVI, Lines 49 – 63

“My master,” I replied, “hearing you say that

Makes me more certain. But I’d already considered

That such was the case, so I already wanted to ask you

 

“Who’s in that fire that arrives so split

At the top, so much so that it seems to be rising from the pyre

Where Eteocles and his brother were laid down.”

 

He replied to me, “There inside are tormented

Ulysses and Diomedes. They’re paired up

In the vendetta that results from the wrath they incurred.”

 

“Down inside that flame, they bewail

The ploy of the horse that opened the gates

From which issued the seed of the noble Romans.

 

“Caught inside, they lament their art by which, even dead,

Deidamia still pours out her sorrow for Achilles;

They also settle the score over the Palladium they stole.”