Dependency Problems Persist

[Paul Nesbit <nesb0002@algonquinc.on.ca>]

I want X.  I decided to first install pine, so I can
email you folks with some XFree86 newbie questions
from my Debian box.  I see now I have to compile pine,
and in order to do so I need dpkg-dev...

Says `apt-get install dpkg-dev`,
    "Sorry, but the following packages are broken - this means they have
unmet
        dependencies:
      dpkg-dev: Depends:perl"

"perl: Depends:perl-base," replies `apt-get install perl`,
to which `apt-get install perl-base` teases

"Sorry, perl-base is already the newest version."

What now?

TIA

--
Paul@Nesbit.net