Our first glimpse into the eighth of the evil pouches (the malebolge) that make up the giant circle of fraud in Dante's INFERNO.

Except nothing's as clear as it should be. Two complex metaphors, a bumbling pilgrim, and a useless Virgil: it all adds up to the sort of interpretive fun we expect from Dante.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we slow-walk with Dante across hell and beyond. We're gearing up for one of the best sinners of hell. And it's proving challenging from the start.

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

[01:13] My English translation of the passage: Inferno, Canto XXVI, lines 25 - 48. If you'd like to read along or even comment on this episode, go to my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:41] The first metaphor: the rustic fellow, watching the fireflies at the summer solstice.

[08:14] The second metaphor: Elijah's flaming chariot, leaving Elisha behind.

[10:45] These metaphors are very curious. How exactly are the comparisons being made?

[13:26] Two more Biblical references in this passage: from James 3 and its condemnation of the tongue, as well as Acts 2 and the tongues of fire at Pentecost.

[15:48] Why does Dante the pilgrim almost fall into the 8th evil pouch? And what is Virgil's role here?

[18:46] The peasant at the start of this passage is an echo of the one at the start of Inferno, Canto XXIV. Might this link be thematic?

[21:48] Reading all of Canto XXVI so far to show the fractures in the text.