The frenzied souls had spoken in unison, in monophony. Now they begin to differentiate, to enter into polyphony with each other.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we hang out on the first minor ledge of Purgatory with Dante the pilgrim and Virgil, his guide. They've been confronted by a mad battalion charge of souls who want to know how the pilgrim is in his body and what he can do for them when he returns to the land of the living.

One of them steps out and tells the story of his death, the first of three stories that end PURGATORIO, Canto V.

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

[01:32] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto V, Lines 64 - 84. If you'd like to read along, print it off, make notes, or continue the discussion with me, please continue down this page.

[03:43] This soul is Iacopo or Jacopo del Cassero (c. 1260 CE - 1298 CE). Here are the important facts about his life.

[10:14] A line-by-line reading of the first half of Jacopo's story of his death.

[18:53] A line-by-line reading of the second half of Jacopo's story of his death 

[23:55] Why is this passage so associated with Italian geography? What has so much of PURGATORIO so far been about Italian geography and politics? Is Dante making a comment about his homeland as a sort of Ante-Purgatory?

[26:47] Jacopo's speech shows Dante the poet's attempt to "reconcile" the fraudulent nature of language while upholding its poetic possibilities. It's a task destined to fail--and spectacularly.

And here’s my English translation of Purgatorio, Canto V, Lines 64 – 84

One of them began: “Each of us trusts

In your good offices without swearing any oaths,

Unless the sheer lack of ability hinders your will.

 

“Therefore, I, who speak alone before the others,

Beg you that if you ever see again that countryside

That lies between Romagna and King Charles’s realm,

 

“Do me the favor of asking those in Fano

To pray for me, if they love me well,

So that I might get able to purge my heinous crimes.

 

“That’s where I came from. But the deep gashes

Out of which I hemorrhaged to death,

Were given to me in the homelands of the Antenori,

 

“Where I believed I was the safest.

The man from Este made it happen—he had more anger

Toward me than he had a right to have.

 

“If I’d only then fled toward La Mira,

When I was overtaken at Oriago,

I would still be back there where people breathe on their own.

 

“Instead, I ran into the swamp, where the brush and the mud

So tangled me up that I fell. At that spot, I saw

My veins create a lake on the ground.”