Rising out of the burning sarcophagus, pulling himself upright, Farinata confronts Dante-the-pilgrim from the tombs of the heretics. But this is no ordinary encounter between our pilgrim and one of the damned. This is an encounter with history, with one of Dante's bitter enemies, with someone who brought about so much bloodshed for Dante-the-poet's family and faction.

What would happen in hell if you met your historical enemy? The one who killed off swaths of your family? How would you treat them?

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, on this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE in which we find out that even in INFERNO, even down in hell, as far as the sixth circle, human tribalism still runs white hot. Even death doesn't stop humans from wanting to slit each other's throats. It's a grim moment in INFERNO--and one that stands just before the next passage, in which it gets grimmer, and then in which, two episodes ahead, it all turns on a dime and becomes so very much a part of the human comedy.

Here are the segments of this episode:

[01:42] My English translation of the passage from INFERNO: Canto X, lines 22 - 51. As well as some bits about the difficulties in this passage.

[05:08] Who was Farinata?

[09:56] Farinata as a twisted representation of Christ.

[14:37] Farinata and language

[20:53] Farinata and politics

[25:50] Can Farinata hold hell in contempt? Is that possible? Maybe there's an answer in Lucan's Pharsalia.

[30:29] One more time through the passage.