We follow our pilgrim and his guide, Virgil, on their first steps into hell. Let's pause with these two at the gate of hell with its famous inscription ("Abandon hope!").

You enter hell through an act of reading. The words on the gate, yes. But also perhaps these words in the text.

And if we read the words right, we can get a most unusual thing: a cheerful look from Virgil.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I walk with Dante the pilgrim passage by passage across the known universe. If you'd like to help support this podcast, please consider a one-time donation or a very small monthly stipend at this PayPal link right here.

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

[01:11] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto III, lines 1 - 21. If you want to see my translation, find a larger study guide, or continue the conversation with me, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:05] The words over hell's gate, perhaps one of the most iconic passage in COMEDY. The gate speaks truth autobiographically.

[05:21] We're entering a civic vision of the afterlife.

[08:28] A bit about justice and the definitely non-Thomistic (and non-Aristotelian) words written over the gate. Justice moved God? How is that possible?

[12:54] Dante-the-pilgrim is a reader! He has to enter hell through an act of reading.

[14:43] Virgil is what every reader needs: a great writer who can move the text out of its space and into the reader's space.

[19:00] Virgil is cheerful at a very desperate spot.