NPR gets the Sixth Circle...

From Canto XIV, before the burning sand, Virgil speaking to the Pilgrim…

“…to go on scorning God and treat him lightly,
But, as I said to him, he decks his chest
With ornaments of lavish words that prick him. (end Dante)

Behold, one that is there on the sands’ edge
Whose sins were needless pæans to a false god
For here lie the aggravating in torment.” (1)

And I, noticing the poor man reading
In words pained and unrecognizable (2)
From a thorn’d book piercing him bodily,

Said: “Master, may I ask this wretch’s name?”
Upon which the sinner raised his lidless eye
And spoke: “gaxlvs so prsclecatchvined.”

My Master, aware of my confusion,
Said: “This one held a great nation in pain (3)
With the atrocious sound of his speaking.

His tone was grating and harsh to the ear
And now his book splits his organs crosswise,
To and fro, each utterance brings more pain.

Ever onward he must read to no one and
Hear not the wreck’d song he labors to sing.
And solace in letters finds him not glad.”

Upon hearing my Master’s wisdom in
Words of truth I knew this man from his life
And I, too, remembered the tort’rous song. (4)




1. Dante places the “aggravating” in the Sixth Circle as a way of suggesting that man can only tolerate so much. It was a widely held belief in the 14th century that one must be sensitive to the unspoken agony of others in deed and conversation. Hence, Dante places their sins among the violent for subjective reasons, believing violence to have been perpetrated upon himself in the manner suggested here.

2. The literal translation from the Italian is “the absurd shit spouted painfully,” which has been altered here due to syntactical necessity.

3. The United States circa 20th century.

4. Dick Estelle was the host of NPR’s “The Radio Reader” for many years. Listeners often remarked on the monotonous tone adopted in his performance and his early passing was met with gratitude throughout the listening populace. It is unknown how Dante would have heard Estelle’s program as there is four century discrepancy in the timeline.


My question was whether or not Dante's ancestors could be sued for defamation by the libel directed toward certain families in "The Inferno." I was unsure if historical defamation could carry over into modern times, as surely Dante has ruined a few and sundry familial names.

I have since discovered that this cannot occur due to the difficulty in determing lineage and intermarriage. No one has won a case issued from so far in the past...but it's been attempted.