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Thieves steal not only other people’s goods, but also their very identities. To illustrate this, Dante places them in a confusion of identities among snakes and serpents. [As heard on Cambridge Radio]
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We attend to the ditch of Hypocrisy, gaudy false coverings weighing the souls in a never-ending round, generating lots of further thoughts, and songs. You are invited to attend. (As heard on Cambridge Radio)
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We come now to public corruption, a hot, sticky ditch with fierce demons on the watch. It’s the most threatening area Dante will encounter in his whole journey. But overylying the horror is a kind of slapstick comedy. It’s a raucous story, and we add some odd music, too. Come along; you’re invited to attend. [As heard on Cambridge Radio]
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Dante comes across the sorcerers, magicians, fortune-tellers, soothsayers – all who try to side-step the daily cause-and-effect pattern of our world. They look one way, their bodies go a different way. Very odd – and some odd music, too. You are invited to attend. (First heard on Cambridge Radio)
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[The flames should be on their soles, not somewhere down below]
Dante and Virgil go down into the ditch of the “simoniacs”, people who trafficked in holy things – specifically, in Dante’s day, many popes. And in our day? Come along and find out.
[First heard on Cambridge Radio]
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We attend to the first two ditches in the Circle of Fraud in Dante’s Inferno, presenting the naked seducers and pimps, whipped into running around and around (as they were when alive), and the flatterers, immersed in the excrement their own flattery had made of our language. Some songs you’ll know, some you might not have heard before. You are invited to attend. [As heard on Cambridge Radio]
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Geryon’s appearance gives us the chance to think a little further about the nature of fraud before we encounter the ten categories of fraud in Dante’s Nether Hell. You’re invited to attend, as always. [As heard on Cambridge Radio]
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The sterile, burning sands containing those who were violent to God and to Nature, and to the fruits of Nature. An odd, disturbing assortment of three different groups. Also featuring a new character: Geryon, the representation of Fraud, which is coming up next. [As heard on Cambridge Radio]
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We come to the region of those who have been violent to themselves, or to their property. A sensitive region, also a very eerie one, but revealing things to say here. You are invited to attend. [As heard on Cambridge 105]
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As a break from the shows on Dante’s Inferno, we attend to a selection of songs, some very light, some moving, some perhaps a little weird. You are invited to attend. [As heard on Cambridge Radio]
