Walking With Dante

As Hugh Capet winds up to the heights of his monologue, he comes to a most shocking climax: that moment when the French monarchy is so bad that it makes even the corrupt papacy look good.We've come to the very center of Dante's beef with the French crown, voiced by this legendary monarch about his own descendants, particularly Philip IV (or Philip the Fair). It's a tale so dire that even papal corruption is forgotten!Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the narrative climax of Hugh Capet's monologue on the fifth terrace of avarice in PURGATORIO.If you'd like to help underwrite the fees of this podcast, whether with a one-time donation or a very small monthly stipend, please consider doing so with this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:14] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XX, lines 82 - 96. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me about this episode, please find its slot on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:06] Identifying the players in the passage: Philip IV (or the Fair) of France and Pope Boniface VIII.[07:48] Tracing the political history behind this passage.[15:41] Admitting the shock of Dante's defending Pope Boniface VIII.[18:42] Talking in code as a survival strategy.[22:54] Querying whether evil actions can be inherited (since virtuous ones can't be).[25:11] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XX, lines 82 - 96.

Hugh Capet continues the story of his family, bringing the saga of the French (or Frankish) crown into Dante's day with three of Hugh's most infamous descendants . . . at least as far as the poet is concerned.Our pilgrim gets treated to a grim recital of French misdeeds. And we catch our first whiff of antisemitism in COMEDY, just at the moment the actual French monarchy is expelling the Jews from French territory.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this tough middle passage in Hugh Capet's rendition of the avaricious wrongs of the Frankish kingdom.If you'd like to help underwrite the many fees associated with this otherwise unsupported podcast, you can make a one-time donation or a small on-going contribution by using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:43] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XX, lines 61 - 81. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation about this difficult passage with me and others, find the entry for this podcast episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:07] The poetics in the passage: structure and rhyme.[07:51] The troubled disconnection and reconnection of Provence and France.[12:48] Hugh Capet's first malicious descendant: Charles I of Anjou (1226 - 1281).[19:10] The second miscreant among his issue: Charles of Valois (1270 - 1325).[22:56] The first instance of antisemitism in COMEDY.[29:37] Hugh Capet's third bad seed: Charles II of Anjou (1254 - 1309).[32:50] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XX, lines 61 - 81.

The pilgrim has been attracted by one soul, calling out his examples of Mary, Fabricius, and Nicholas to counter his own sins of avarice.Dante steps closer and inquires who this soul is. He finds himself in front of Hugh Capet, the legendary (and historical) founder of the Capetian dynasty of French kings. Or at least a version of said Hugh Capet, since Dante the poet flubs the historicity of his penitent.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this fascinating look at the second major figure on the fifth terrace of Mount Purgatory.If you'd like to help underwrite the fees associated with this unsupported podcast, whether with a one-time donation or a small on-going contribution, please visit this link at Paypal.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:50] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XX, Lines 40 - 60. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the comment section for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:38] Hugh Capet in history.[10:46] Hugh Capet out of history and into COMEDY.[14:19] The highlights in the passage, plus a note about Hugh's prophetic voice.[25:04] The passage without its historical apparatus.[28:49] Dante's anti-French propaganda and his misunderstanding of power as a human motivation.[32:16] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XX, lines 40 - 60.

Dante has gone beyond Pope Adrian V but hasn't left the fifth terrace of Purgatory. He and Virgil pick their way among the many shades until the pilgrim hears one shade call out three examples that entice the pilgrim to find this penitent.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through this passage on the terrace of the avaricious that will eventually lead us to our surprising second greedy soul ahead.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:15] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XX, lines 16 - 39. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me about this passage, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:15] Dante, the poor homeless man, stares at the greedy.[05:25] The exemplars for the avaricious are told in very few words.[07:04] The first exemplar for the avaricious: Mary and her poverty.[10:03] The second exemplar for the avaricious: Fabricius and his poverty.[12:26] The third exemplar for the avaricious: Saint Nicholas and his generosity.[16:18] Does Dante have a death wish?[22:10] Rereading the passge: PURGATORIO, Canto XX, lines 16 - 39.

Pope Adrian V has pushed the pilgrim Dante to move on . . . even though the pilgrim doesn't want to.He and Virgil pick their way through the crowded fifth terrace of Purgatory. The avaricious are so many that the poet has to step out and offer a prophetic denunciation among the wreckage.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we edge our way toward the second penitent on this crowded terrace of PURGATORIO.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:32] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XX, Lines 1 - 15. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me in the comments to this episode, please find it on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:16] The advantange or problem with structure in PURGATORIO, Canto XX.[07:30] The pilgrim's weak will redirected.[09:57] The pilgrim's and Virgil's movement v. the immobile smelting of the penitents.[13:17] The poet-prophet's curse.[16:32] The poet-prophet's hope.[22:14] Rereading this passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XX, lines 1 - 15.

Pope Adrian V concludes his discourse on the fifth terrace of Mount Purgatory on a strangely lonely, alienated note. Perhaps this is what avarice does to a person. Or perhaps this is what exile has done to Dante.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through the end of PURGATORIO XIX and Pope Adrian's speech on the terrace of the avaricious. We end at a melacholy spot for one of the redeemed.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:39] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 127 - 145. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, see the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:32] Informal "you" v. formal "you."[06:22] Two New Testament references: Apocalypse 19:9 - 10 and the Gospel of Matthew 22:23 - 30.[10:53] The mystery of what is purified as a new plotting strategy in COMEDY.[13:14] The sad loneliness at the end of Canto XIX.[15:31] INFERNO XIX v. PURGATORIO XIX.[18:09] Misreading PURGATORIO XIX as a plea for democracy.[19:29] Reading all of Pope Adrian V's discourse: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 91 - 145.

Pope Adrian V, bound hands and feet to the ground, sets out to answer the pilgrim Dante's second question: What's going on here?In doing so, the pope unwittingly gives one of the most misunderstood lines in PURGATORIO.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore more of this conversation with the first (and only) pope we meet on Mount Purgatory.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:52] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 115 - 124. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:43] Punishment v. purification . . . and their contrapasso.[06:33] The bitterness of the pain.[09:42] Bitterness and falconry.[12:53] The transformation of the soul . . . momentarily stopped.[14:06] The avaricious v. the envious.[16:17] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 115 - 126.

Dante the pilgrim has asked Virgil--at least with a look in the eyes--if he could speak to one of the avaricious penitents, lying face down on the ground.On Virgil's okay, the pilgrim walks up to Pope Adrian IV . . . or at least so Dante the poet thinks. Sources vary. And interpretations, too.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through the interpretive and historical knots we face on meeting our first pope since INFERNO.If you'd like to help cover the costs of this podcast, consider donating a lump sum or even a little bit each month using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:19] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 91 - 114. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me in the comments to this episode, please find it on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:47] Two interpretive knots: what exactly you must ripen to return to God and why anyone would want to stop that ripening process.[08:13] Dante, an architectural poet, who gives his reader three structuring questions for this conversation.[09:31] Four possible interpretive answers to the line of Latin from the penitent.[14:28] The identity of the speaker's family: the Fieschi from east of Genoa.[17:00] The identity of the speaker himself: Ottobono de' Fieschi, aka Pope Adrian V (c.1215 - 1276 CE).[20:12] Dante's possible historical mistake: Pope Adrian IV or Pope Adrian V?[23:00] Punishment v. purification: a difficult balance in PURGATORIO.[26:43] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 91 - 114.

Dante and Virgil now walk along the fifth terrace of Purgatory, looking at the souls who are face down, stuck to the ground, unable to move or turn over.One of them answers Virgil about the way up . . . and the pilgrim Dante wants to stop for a conversation.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for a look at this transitional passage in PURGATORIO as we step up to meet the first of three souls on the fifth terrace of Mount Purgatory.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:31] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 70 - 90. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:30] Falconry as a "transmutative art"--and the possible transmutations from classical poetry.[09:24] The problem of being stuck to the ground.[12:18] Our disorientation among the speakers' words.[14:37] Virgil's (new?) concepts of justice and hope.[17:18] A new understanding of how Purgatory works.[19:00] PURGATORIO XIX v. INFERNO XIX.[22:27] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 70 - 90.

Dante the pilgrim has had a "P" wiped off his forehead by the angel at the stairs. He's started his climb to the next terrace. All seems well, but he's still sad, bent over with worry, troubled about his dream.Virgil again comes to the rescue. He reinterprets the dream for the pilgrim (leaving us with quite a few questions!) and commands the pilgrim to direct his eyes up to the heavens, the ultimate lure to God.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at this passage that brings us to the cusp of the fifth circle of Mount Purgatory.If you'd like to consider making a contribution to keep this podcast afloat, even a small monthly donation, please visit this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:35] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 52 - 69. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please find this episode's listing on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:23] Possible structural changes in the canto breaks in PURGATORIO.[05:51] Dante the pilgrim as the mourner.[07:02] The dream as a "new vision."[09:39] The question of what exactly is "above us."[12:22] The open interpretative space in Virgil's interpretation of Dante's dream.[17:00] Virgil's impatience, the workings of desire, and the rocky landscape of Purgatory.[20:02] The second major instance of falconry imagery in COMEDY.[22:31] The heavens as the ultimate lure.[25:10] Rereading this passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 52 - 69.

Awakened from his dream by a foul odor, Dante the pilgrim finds himself fully out of tune with his surroundings: a bright new day on the mountain of Purgatory, beautiful sunshine at his back, and an angel whose feathers fan him on to the next terrace.He's even promised the curious "ladies of consolation" as a salve for his mourning.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at a difficult passage in PURGATORIO, the journey from the fourth terrace of sloth to the fifth terrace up the mountain ahead of us.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:45] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 34 - 51. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please find this particular episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[02:59] The Bodleian manuscript's illustration of Dante's second dream in PURGATORIO.[04:23] Dante's disorientation and his possible guilt.[07:14] Virgil and Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane.[09:29] Disorientation in the passage: hope and despair.[11:28] More disorientation: an angel and the poet Dante in the tercet.[13:06] A return to the familiarity of the plot.[14:14] Four answers to the question of "who mourns?"[21:42] Those curious ladies of consolation.[26:12] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 34 - 51.

We've had two dreams in PURGATORIO, one at Canto IX and one at Canto XIX (although it actually started in the last line of Canto XVIII).Let's take a moment to compare and contrast these two dreams. What can they tell us about the changing nature of PURGATORIO, especially given my thesis that this is a poem in process, one in which the poet is learning how to write the poem as he moves forward?Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:21] A reading of the first two dreams in PURGATORIO: Canto IX, lines 13 - 42; and Canto XIX, lines 1 - 13.[05:11] Both dreams occur near dawn, startle the pilgrim awake, and rob the pilgrim of his free will.[08:40] Both dreams are about (different versions) of the future.[12:14] Both dreams have problems about who saves the pilgrim: the terrifying eagle or Virgil?[14:20] Both dreams are full of classical imagery (with important differences in the placement of that imagery).[16:15] Both dreams have songs: the first, outside the dream; the second, inside it.[17:35] There are two characters in the first dream, four character in the second--allowing for a larger interpretive space in the second dream.

Here's the second episode on the pilgrim's second dream in PURGATORIO. Things get wilder after the ugly lady becomes beautiful under the pilgrim Dante's gaze.She begins to sing. She identifies herself as a siren. She mentions Ulysses (incorrectly?). Another lady appears and begs Virgil for help. And Virgil saves Dante (yet again).Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we parse this passage about the workings of poetry and perhaps COMEDY as a whole.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:23] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 16 - 33. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please find the entry for this episode on my website: markscarbrough.com.[03:18] Questions about free will in the dream state.[05:27] Questions about singing (and therefore, about poetry).[07:03] Ulysses back in Purgatorio again![10:30] The siren's song and possible identification.[14:05] The holy, speedy lady.[15:15] Her possible identifications: Beatrice, Saint Lucy, the second lady in Dante's VITA NUOVA, a whore/virgin cliché, or the holy lady of Philosophy from Boethius's CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY.[22:37] Virgil in and out of Dante's dream.[23:51] Medieval medical remedies for lust.[25:10] A grammatical problem in the passage.[28:39] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 16 - 33.

Our pilgrim has fallen asleep on the edge of the fourth terrace of Mount Purgatory. He's seen the racing slothful but night has gotten the better of him . . . so he begins to dream.That dream is all about desire and the male gaze. It's also about poetic space and dream space . . . and the porous nature between the two.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we start the first of two episodes on the second dream of PURGATORIO.Here are the segments for this episode of the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:54] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, Lines 1 - 15. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:21] Cooling planets, fortune tellers, and the liminal space before dawn.[06:51] References to INFERNO XX and VII in this passage.[10:20] Canto XIX and the psalms of ascent.[12:46] Delaying tactics at the opening of Canto XIX.[15:07] Disgust and the "redemption" of gaze.[18:29] Disturbing gender politics.[19:50] Who gets to observe vs. who (or what) is observed.[21:59] The poetic space vs. the dream space (which are not really separate)[25:17] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 1 - 15.

We've climbed up to the fifth terrace of Purgatory proper and come among the avaricious. These three cantos become increasingly complex and daring: in their theology, in their poetics, and in their myth-making.They're extraordinarily rich. Gilded, even. Which somehow fits, since these are the cantos in which the greedy purge their sin.And we've got three incredible monologues: from a late-to-repent pope, one of the founders of the French monarchy, and Statius, the great Roman poet whose THEBIAD has been with us all along in COMEDY.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for a read-through of Cantos XIX, XX, and XXI of PURGATORIO before we begin our slow walk along this most dangerous terrace.

The zealous slothful have run on, although there are still two coming in the rear, "biting" the penitents from behind with warnings about sloth.After that, the pilgrim Dante has a new thought--curiously undefined--which leads him into his second dream in PURGATORIO.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we finish off Canto XVIII and leave our pilgrim to his slumbers.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:30] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, lines 130 - 145. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:16] Virgil, but only in periphrasis.[07:27] Two warnings: one Biblical and one classical (from The Aeneid!).[11:27] The connection between fear and sloth.[13:41] The pilgrim's new thought: possibly Beatrice?[18:01] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, lines 1130 - 145.

At last, the slothful penitents arrive. They're a roiling horde in a crazy rush, whipped around the terrace to make up for the ways they were negligent in life.As these frantic souls pass by, one of them speaks a brave truth about Dante the poet's primary patron, a fierce warlord who has sheltered the poet on the run but whose family may not be all they're cracked up to be.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through this amazing passage of PURGATORIO, a plea to not hesitate when it comes to speaking truth to power.If you'd like to help underwrite the many fees associated with this podcast, please consider a small monthly donation or a one-time gift by using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:32] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, lines n97 - 129. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find this episode in the list of episodes for this podcast on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:09] There are two admonitions for purposeful haste: Mary and Julius Caesar.[09:46] An address to the penitents . . . from Virgil.[11:00] Virgil clouds our definition of sloth . . . and perhaps our understanding of his place in PURGATORIO.[15:47] The Abbott of San Zeno tells of the fall of his monastery into chaos (as well as Milan's fall into chaos).[21:00] Hurry up and speak truth to power.[24:12] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, lines 97 - 129.

Our pilgrim has found himself in the dark of night, a time where he loses all effort on Mount Purgatory.But don't get too sleepy, Dante. You can get run over by the slothful, all at a full gallop in a Bacchic frenzy.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we return to the plot after Virgil's discourses on love, here on the fourth terrace of Mount Purgatory.If you'd like to help underwrite the many fees associated with this podcast, please consider donating a small monthly stipend or a one-time gift at this PayPal link right here.These are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:42] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, lines 76 - 96. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:39] The complicated opening passage about the moon and the time of night.[13:38] Virgil and the values of chivalry.[16:41] Directionality and the penitents of Purgatory.[20:32] The Bacchic penance of the slothful.[23:12] The pilgrim's sleepy, poetic imagination.[24:41] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, lines 76 - 96.

Virgil offers his third discourse on love at the middle of PURGATORIO to 1) show his work about ethics derived from Aristotle's notions of substance and cause and 2) to make sure the pilgrim understands that his actions are his own fault.This is a complicated passage with lots of historical resonances, particularly from Aristotle and Plato (as understood through Aquinas). It'll take us some work to unpack it, but we'll get very close to our modern understanding of ethics.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through the last of Virgil's major discourses.If you'd like to help underwrite the many fees associated with this podcast, you can do so at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:13] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, lines 49 - 75. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[05:12] The various notions of Aristotelean causality in the passage: material and necessary causes, as well as the nature of "substance."[11:59] Material causes and substantial forms.[14:59] A misinterpretation of the substance and material in the passage that has infected the commentary on COMEDY for centuries.[17:44] The desire for primary things and Virgil's misunderstanding.[23:24] Virgil's (and Dante's) definition of reason and our understanding of ethics from it.[28:35] Reason's results: ethics.[29:41] A logic flaw in Virgil's argument.[33:13] Marco of Lombardy vs. Virgil.[36:19] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, lines 49 - 75.

Virgil has finished his second, clarifying discourse on love, but it hasn't done the trick. The pilgrim Dante is even more full of doubts . . . pregnant with them, in fact.Let's look at the pilgrim's second question to Virgil's discourse on love and talk about the complex ways Beatrice and even physical desire operate in the poem.I'm Mark Scarbrough. Thanks for coming on the journey with me.If you'd like to help underwrite the many fees associated with this podcast, you can do so at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:19] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, lines 40 - 48. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:47] To understand Dante's concept of love, void the Renaissance and Romanticism out of your thinking.[09:48] An impregnated pilgrim brings up the sexual basis of desire (or love).[12:50] The pilgrim asks a crucial question for any religion: How am I responsible?[15:22] The allegory of Virgil and Beatrice comes close, even while Beatrice remains a physical draw for desire.[19:01] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, lines 40 - 48.

In answer to the pilgrim's request that Virgil show his work on the nature of love, Virgil (and the poet Dante behind him) condense and recast the very bases of the thinking in Western culture: Aristotle's notion that the objective world creates a mental picture that forms the basis of any action.This passage is one of the most complex in PURGATORIO. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we take apart its claims and some of the translation problems both from the poetry's concision and the seismic change in thought after the Enlightenment.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE;[01:56] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, lines 19 - 39. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:30] A few things to admit before we start.[08:00] The three steps or stages of love.[14:01] The problem of translating "anima."[17:26] Basic claims in Virgil's second discourse.[23:17] Problems with these claims--and how Dante the poet solves them.[29:14] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, lines 19 - 39.

Virgil seemed to have come to a resting place in his monumental discourse on love: "Here's all I know . . . and all I don't know."But the pilgrim is less than satisfied. He wants Virgil to continue on, to show his work for these complex syllogisms.And Dante the poet is not done with Virgil either, given the mirrored structure of cantos XVII and XVIII.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we move beyond the mid-point of COMEDY and our pilgrim asks for more about how love is the seed of all human actions.If you'd like to help underwrite the many costs and fees associated with this podcast, please consider donating what you can at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:29] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, lines 1 - 18. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:19] Human love, like PURGATORIO itself, is a liminal space.[06:03] Dante the poet leans heavily into Virgil's truth-telling, scholastic credentials.[09:24] Canto XVIII is wrapped by the word "new."[11:28] Dante's interiority gives way to the poem's interiority![13:33] The damned Virgil is a source of light, like the angels.[15:03] The pilgrim asks Virgil to show his work and perhaps overstates Virgil's argument about love.[19:10] Virgil lambasts the blind guides . . . who may be religious figures or also poets who refuse to write in the vernacular.[21:27] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, lines 1 - 18.

We've come to the middle of PURGATORIO . . . and indeed the middle of COMEDY as a whole. Let's take a breather and review where we've been in Purgatory since our very slow approach sometimes (or often?) causes us to privilege the trees over the forest.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I walk you through the first half of PURGATORIO one more time, mostly to remind you where we've been, but also to make sure we all understand the majestic, imaginative sweep of this canticle so far (and this poem so far).If you'd like to help underwrite this podcast, with a one-time donation or even a small monthly contribution, you can do so at this PayPal link right here. Thank you so much for your support . . . in donations, in questions, in connections on social media, and on my website, markscarbrough.com.

We come to the end of Virgil's (first) discourse on love, as well as the end of the central canto of PURGATORIO.But it's a strange end since Virgil admits to what he doesn't know. Having been so certain about how human behavior operates, he concludes by telling Dante the pilgrim he's on his own to find out further answers.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we conclude Virgil's astoundingly certain discourse on love with an ironic, ambiguous moment.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:41] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 127 - 139. If you'd like to read along or continue the discussion with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:31] A secondary motivation for human behavior: quiet (or peace).[07:22] A pronoun ambiguity in the passage.[09:23] The temporary nature of the cornices of Purgatory.[11:14] Virgil and the core ambiguity in PURGATORIO.[12:29] The problem of too much love.[13:55] Love and the things Virgil cannot know.[16:29] Rereading all of Virgil's discourse on love: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 91 - 139.

Virgil continues his discourse about love, the central discourse in all of COMEDY. It's a tour de force of scholastic reasoning . . . that may leave something to be desired after INFERNO.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore Virgil's scholastic understanding of all human action and his vision of love as the seed of all that we do.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:42] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 106 - 126. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:08] Virgil's scholastic background in the text.[08:01] Virgil's two premises: no one can hate their own self or the first cause (that is, God).[11:33] Virgil's understanding of the three terraces of Purgatory below us.[16:12] Can Virgil be a scholastic thinker? What do we make of this very oracular Virgil?[20:39] Virgil's argument is less a celebration of Aquinas and more one of Aristotle.[22:48] Love may move the fence, but love doesn't tear down the fence.[26:46] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 106 - 126.

Love is the seed … of all you do. It's news to me, given the state of the world. But not to Virgil. And certainly not to Dante's COMEDY.Virgil's explosive claim about love lies at the center of the poem: We do right and we go wrong because of the seed of love.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at the beginning of Virgil's central discourse in COMEDY, an overwhelming statement about human motivation and the nature of God.If you'd like to help underwrite the many costs of this podcast, please consider donating at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:43] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 91 - 105. If you'd like to read along or continue the discussion with me, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:57] Virgil's explosive claim: love is the seed of all human action.[05:27] Virgil's scholastic divisions of love.[08:38] A translation problem: "o naturale o d'anima."[12:40] Virgil's understand of the two types of love.[14:59] Virgil's odd repetition of his own argument.[18:27] The basis of Dante's thought: the Bible, Aristotle, and Aquinas.[27:27] Dante's source: William Perault's SUMMA DE VITIIS ET VIRTURTIBUS. (Ugh, my Latin pronunciation!)[29:16] But what then of the fall in the Garden of Eden?[30:59] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 91 - 105.

Welcome to the fourth terrace of Purgatory proper!Dante and Virgil reach the top of the stairs just as night falls and the pilgim loses all possibility of forward momentum. He hesitates--from sloth?--and turns to Virgil--still damned!--to explain where they are.Virgil, the guide of Purgatory. It's still as shocking as it was sixteen cantos ago!Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we stop at the cusp of the fourth terrace of Purgatory proper.Would you like to help underwrite the many costs of this podcast? You can do so with a donation at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:29] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 73 - 90. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:12] What truce has been called when it comes to the pilgrim's legs? And why does this fourth terrace of Purgatory seem so very silent and empty?[07:33] Is Dante the pilgrim hesitant? Or slothful?[08:59] Why is Virgil's explanation of the terrace so opaque, so poetic?[10:25] Is COMEDY beginning to value opacity?[12:37] What is the medieval understanding of sloth? How would Dante define it?[17:26] How does PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, match two cantos in INFERNO (XI and XVII)?[21:02] Reading the passage again: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 73 - 90.

We're ready to get to the fourth terrace of Purgatory proper--that is, the terrace where sloth is purged.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for a read-through of this terrace, starting at Canto XVII, Line 73 (or back three lines perhaps for a running start) through the end of Canto XVIII (at Line 145).We'll hear Virgil's great discourse on love as well as Dante's encounter with the racing slothful.Would you like to help underwrite the costs of this podcast? You can do so at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:11] A read-through of my rough (!) English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, line 73, through Canto XVIII, line 145.[14:21] Some initial thoughts about Virgil's discourse on love and the terrace of the slothful.

Dante the poet is having great fun with light. He's playing with its various meanings: illumination, revelation, sunrise, sunset, concealment, power--all this as we approach the middle of PURGATORIO and even find ourselves in the middle of COMEDY as a whole.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore these last moments on Purgatory's terrace of the wrathful before we find ourselves again among the stars.If you'd like to help with the many fees associated with this podcast, you can offer a small, monthly stipend or even a one-time gift using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:41] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 40 - 72. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:16] A dizzying interplay about light: physical/metaphysical, imaginary/revelatory, sunrise/sunset, illuminating/concealing.[06:46] Desire and the necessary (physical) fulfillment: a lead-in to what's ahead on the journey.[08:37] Virgil's reply, a pastiche of Biblical and classical sources.[12:37] The beatitude that ends this terrace, plus a non-Biblical addition to it that then complicates our notion of anger.[16:51] Stars and the center of COMEDY.[17:39] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 40 - 72.

As Dante the pilgrim gets ready to leave the third terrace of Purgatory, the terrace of the angry, he has three ecstatic visions that warn about the dangers of excessive wrath.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at these visions and try to come to terms with the problem that Dante's rage may sit at the very center of COMEDY.If you'd like to help underwrite the many fees for this podcast, please consider donating a very small monthly stipend or a one-time gift using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:11] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 19 - 39. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:13] Connecting this passage with the previous hymn to the imagination.[07:37] A review of the first three ecstatic visions in Canto XV at the entrance to the terrace of anger.[09:46] The first vision (from Ovid's METAMORPHOSES): a (garbled?) reduction of the Philomela, Procne, and Tereus story.[16:31] The second vision (from the Bible): Ahasuerus, Esther, Mordecai, and Haman.[20:37] The third vision (from THE AENEID: Queen Amata and her daughter, Lavinia.[25:00] Dante's rage as the center of COMEDY.[29:24] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 19 - 39.

Dante the pilgrim leaves Marco of Lombardy behind, but Dante the poet is not yet done with fundamental questions for his poem--particularly, how does he know what he knows? The answer lies in the imagination, the shaky ground that Dante posits is the basis of revelation.If you'd like to help underwrite the fees for this podcast, please consider donating a small monthly stipend or a one-time gift using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:54] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 1 - 18. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this podcast episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:26] The first canto in COMEDY that opens with a direct address to the reader may help us understand the reader that Dante has in mind for his poem.[05:50] The smoke of anger becomes a fog and mist, which then becomes clouds, all of which happens as poetic space overlays poetic space in a metaphoric tour de force.[10:08] Aristotle (and Aquinas) argued that the imagination is only based on sensory input.[13:09] Dante may well disagree, offering the imagination as a mechanism of revelation.[17:51] Dante begins to claim that his own poem is divinely inspired.[20:58] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 1 - 18.

We've finished Marco of Lombardy's central discourse about free will, the soul's maturation, and the systemic problems with the world. Now let's look back at the whole speech and talk through some of the larger issues it raises.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at Marco's speech in PURGATORIO in its entirety.If you'd like to donate to underwrite the many costs of this podcast, whether by a small monthly stipend or a one-time gift, please use this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:28] Rereading all of Marco of Lombardy's speech in my English translation: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, lines 46 - 145. The separate passages of this speech can be found among the former episodes of this podcast.[07:09] Why is Marco's speech so heavily cribbed?[09:47] Why is Marco himself an opaque historical figure?[13:01] Why does Marco's discourse move from personal space to metaphoric space and back to personal space?[15:16] Is Marco's speech really theological?[19:43] Who "convened" the laws and leader that Marco wants?[22:52] Is the point of Marco's speech to give Dante permission to preach about corruption?

Marco of Lombardy's time in COMEDY comes to an end with a chatty back-and-forth between him and the pilgrim Dante. Dante wants to compliment Marco on creating such a great argument (the one, that is, that Dante the poet created!) but Marco's only answer seems to be irritation and an abrupt dismissal.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for a fascinating deep dive into the end of PURGATORIO, Canto XVI.If you'd like to help underwrite the many fees associated with this podcast, please consider donating a one-time gift or a small monthly stipend using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:33] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, Lines 130 - 145. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:10] The pilgrim Dante disallows land holdings for the papacy, based on Marco's reasoning.[05:45] PURGATORIO, Canto XVI returns to Torah at its end, offering the argument deep, long-standing ballast.[08:00] Gaia, Gherardo's daughter, has long been a troubling figure in commentary.[10:45] What does this conversational coda to Marco's disquisition on free will do for the poem COMEDY as a whole?[13:23] Why do the penitents work through anger in a lightless smoke?[16:14] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, lines 130 - 145.

Marco of Lombardy, the angry penitent, continues his diagnosis of the world's problems. It's got only one sun, not two, as Rome had. And that one sun, the papacy, is not kosher. In fact, perhaps cannot be kosher under any circumstances.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore a big chunk of Marco's reasoning about the world's ills. He said it was in us. But he seems to claim it's more systemic than personal.Consider donating a one-time gift or perhaps a small monthly stipend to cover the costs of this podcast. You can do so at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:45] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, lines 97 - 129. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:29] The papacy is not--or cannot be--kosher.[07:36] Pastoral metaphoric space unifies the passage.[09:30] Our nature is NOT corrupted?[12:46] The papacy v. the empire: Dante's dilemma.[18:26] The papacy v. the empire: the dilemma of Dante's age.[21:17] Marco's argument moves back into personal space: his own Lombardy.[22:48] Three good men are left on the Italian peninsula.[26:10] These three good men are in contrast to the gluten Ciacco's two witnesses in INFERNO, Canto VI.[29:36] The church of Rome isn't in Rome anymore![31:44] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, lines 97 - 129.

Marco of Lombardy continues his discourse on free will, deep in the pitch-black smoke of the third terrace of Purgatory where the angry penitents confront their sin.His discussion takes a wild turn: a developmental hypothesis of the soul as a little girl, a scheme that may or may not nix original sin from Christian theology.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this complicated passage at almost the very heart of COMEDY.If you'd like to help underwrite the many fees for this podcast, either with a one-time donation or with a little bit each month as a stipend, please consider doing so at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:38] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, lines 85 - 96. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:04] A passage from Dante's CONVIVIO that is the basis for some of this passage in COMEDY (CONVIVIO, Book IV, chapter xii, lines 14 - 17.)[10:37] Dante's developmental hypothesis about the soul.[15:35] Dante's understanding of the soul as a little girl, to confirm the heteronormative desire that is the basis of creation/being.[20:02] Answers to whether Dante jettisons the notion of original sin: 1) yes, 2) no, 3) only here, or 4) Dante's doesn't but Marco does.[26:42] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, lines 85 - 96.

Dante the pilgrim has asked the angry Marco of Lombardy the cause of the world's ills. Marco responds with both exasperation and affection before turning to the root of the matter: The cause is in all of you.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at this central passage in COMEDY, a grand statement of the Christian paradox of free will.If you'd like to help underwrite this podcast through a one-time donation or via a small monthly stipend, please consider doing so at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:49] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, lines 64 - 84. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please find this podcast entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:15] A justification for how this episode works.[06:00] The conflation of anger and affection in the texture of the passage.[08:49] Marco's teamwork with Guido del Duca, back among the envious.[10:02] Human feelings as the proof for free will.[13:27] One impetus to behavior (the zodiac signs) with two initial gifts (light and free will).[15:22] Two outs for free will: the battles against those astrological signs and proper nourishment. (But not Satan or the demons!)[19:48] Free will and God's control: the breadth of Dante's pasture.[28:03] The cause of evil: humans. The truth of God: transcendence.[31:17] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, lines 64 - 84.

Dante's on the verge of exploding with doubt. Marco of Lombardy's snark about the loss of valor in the bows of this world has done little more than leave the pilgrim in a theological puzzle: How did the world get so bad?Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore Dante's question to Marco before we turn to Marco's central discourse, the very middle of the great masterwork COMEDY.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:48] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, lines 52 - 63. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find this specific episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:21] Dante's question assumes the values of chivalry.[08:34] Can the redeemed instigate doubt?[10:36] Dante ties Marco's snark back to Guido del Duca's nostalgia.[13:19] COMEDY's new motivation is to bring back the answers.[14:36] Dante's quandary is astrological, not truly theological (per se).[17:00] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, lines 52 -63.

Wrapped in the dark, acrid smoke, Dante encounters one of the angry penitents and one of the most seminal figures in COMEDY, here at almost the exact center of the entire poem.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through the pilgrim's flatteries, the penitent's abrupt nature, and the questions of beauty that begin to dominate COMEDY itself.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:10] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, lines 25 - 51. If you'd like to read along or continue the discussion with me, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:35] Is Marco still angry? Abrupt? What his deal with cutting and segmenting?[08:21] Virgil is all about the destination in a canticle all about process.[10:31] Dante the pilgrim is becoming the wonder of the poem. And he's beginning to connect beauty with ethics.[14:57] At first, Marco probably is walking toward (not with) Dante and Virgil.[17:19] Dante's answer to Marco seems to indicate that he now is indeed Aeneas and Paul (as opposed to how he felt in INFERNO, Canto II).[21:20] The erratic plotting of PURGATORIO positions this canticle between INFERNO and PARADISO.[25:05] Who is Marco of Lombardy? And is that even his name?[27:06] Marco of Lombardy is connected to Ulysses (from INFERNO, Canto XXVI).[29:28] Marco asks Dante the pilgrim to pray for him, a distinct change from those who've come before.[31:14] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, lines 25 - 51.

Dante finds himself in such dark, acrid smoke that he is reminded of the very inky desolations of Inferno. In fact, he has come to the darkest spot in all of COMEDY, the fiftieth canto of Dante's masterpiece.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we begin to explore the third terrace of Purgatory proper along with Dante and his guide, Virgil.If you'd like to help underwrite the many fees of this podcast, please consider donating either a one-time gift or a small monthly subscription through this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:35] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, lines 1 - 24. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:35] The fiftieth canto of COMEDY is the darkest canto of them all.[05:24] Is the smoke of anger "contrapasso," as the punishments of hell were?[08:41] Can Virgil see in the smoke?[11:57] The line the penitents chant in unison is one of the oldest texts in the Mass.[15:25] Dante well understands anger as a knot.[19:27] Dante the poet shows an understanding of modern plot structure.[21:02] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, lines 1 - 24.

In this interpolated episode among those on our slow-walk through Dante's masterpiece, COMEDY, let's discuss the specific sin of anger (or wrath), particularly as it relates to both PURGATORIO (the canticle we're in) and INFERNO (where we've come from).Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the definitions and inside-the-poem problems of anger.If you'd like to help underwrite the fees associated with this podcast, please consider donating a one-time gift or a small monthly stipend through this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:22] Anger is the first sin or human failing found overtly in both INFERNO (at cantos VII and VIII) and PURGATORIO (at cantos XV - XVII).[08:14] Dante's earlier thoughts on an answer to wrath in CONVIVIO.[12:10] Why is calling anger a sin such a problem in Christian theology?[16:02] Comparing INFERNO, Cantos XV and XVI, with PURGATORIO, Cantos XV and XVI.[21:00] Frederick Buechner's definition of anger from WISHFUL THINKING: A SEEKER'S ABC.

We've now come to the third terrace of Purgatory proper, the ledge of wrath (or anger).Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we read through the passages that make up this terrace, starting back at PURGATORIO, Canto XV, line 85 (through parts of Canto XV we've already covered) and on to PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, line 72.If you'd like to help underwrite this podcast to cover its many fees, please consider donating at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:53] My rough English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, line 85 through Canto XVII, line 72. This translation is not found on my website. Rather, just sit back and listen to its sweep before we begin to take it apart.[17:37] Initial questions about the third terrace of anger.

Dante comes out of his ecstatic vision only to have Virgil question whether the pilgrim has drunk too much.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for this rare moment of levity after such intense visions. The pacing slows down and Virgil offers kind advice about getting on their way, maybe two more answers to the problem of anger.If you'd like to help underwrite this podcast, please consider giving a one-time donation or a monthly stipend of just a little through this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:18] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, lines 115 - 145. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:31] Dante the poet offers a humorous moment in PURGATORIO--and perhaps another antidote to the problem of anger.[05:41] Does Virgil know what Dante has seen in his visions or only that Dante has had visions? Is Virgil cagey? If so, why? If not, what's his point?[09:26] A pastoral scene dissolves into ominous, inescapable smoke that itself encapsulates the problem of anger.[12:02] What exactly are Dante's "not erroneous errors" or "unfalse errors"?[15:12] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, lines 115 - 145.

Dante the pilgrim has already had one ecstatic vision as he stepped onto the third terrace of Purgatory proper. Now he has two more in quick succession.We're able then to identify the sin or human failing for this terrace: anger (or wrath). And we're able to glean some very human answers Dante proposes to this very human failing.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through the second and third ecstatic vision at the start of the terrace of wrath.If you'd like to help underwrite the many fees associated with this podcast, please consider donating once or monthly through this Paypal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:45] My English translation of the medieval Florentine. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:59] The sin or human failing for the third terrace identified by name: anger (or wrath).[06:48] The second ecstatic vision: Pisistratus and his wife.[14:49] The third ecstatic vision: the martyrdom of Stephen.[17:57] The third vision ends with references to The Gospel Of Matthew, chapter 5, the source of the beatitudes in PURGATORIO.[19:36] The antidote to anger: found in the countenance.[22:40] Rereading this passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, lines 94 - 114.

Dante and Virgil have stepped onto the third terrace of Purgatory proper and our pilgrim is hit with an ecstatic vision. In fact, the first one in a poem that may itself seem like an ecstatic vision. And one of the few anywhere in COMEDY.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at the first vision on the third terrace of Purgatory, the opening salvo to the true middle of the great poem COMEDY.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:49] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, lines 85 - 93. If you'd like to read along to continue the conversation, please find this episode of my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:07] A vision of the Virgin Mary at the door, speaking in medieval Florentine.[06:14] The changes in the Biblical story of Mary's leaving the young Jesus behind in Jerusalem and returning to find him.[09:29] The importance of the possessive pronoun she uses: "my son."[11:52] The paradox with "ecstatic visions" in COMEDY.[16:16] The light of an ecstatic vision in transparent or empty space.[21:43] Two little boys in Canto XV: the sun in the sky and Jesus in Mary's eyes.

Dante the pilgrim has gotten one answer out of Virgil about the nature of abundance and scarcity in terms of heavenly good . . . but that answer was not apparently enough. So he goes back for more.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for this continuation of Virgil's lesson between the second and third terraces of Purgatory proper. As we leave the envious behind, Virgil offers us a lesson in the unending and multiplying faculty of love.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:41] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, lines 58 - 84. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:28] The food and agrarian imagery in the passage: desire and its satisfaction.[08:18] The light imagery in this passage: links back to the opening of Canto XV, as well as to Aquinas' SUMMA and Dante's own CONVIVIO.[14:58] Profit: the motive or idea of multiplicity has been in Canto XV all along.[16:31] Virgil: a character of Dante the poet's mouthpiece?[20:38] The plot returns (sort of) by a redefinition of the problem of pain.[24:28] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, lines 58 - 84.

Dante and Virgil encounter the awaited angel as they begin their ascent to the third terrace of Purgatory proper.They hear two snippets of song. They find the climb easier. And Dante asks Virgil to gloss two lines Guido del Duca said back in Canto XIV. All these things indicate the shifting the nature of COMEDY itself as we enter its middle cantos.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this passage about the climb to the third terrace and see the shifting nature of COMEDY's audience and purpose.If you'd like to help underwrite this podcast, whether as a one-time donation or a small on-going contribution, please visit this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:18] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, lines 34 - 57. If you'd like to read along or continue the converation with me, please find this specific episode on my website: markscarbrough.com.[03:31] An increasing emphasis on transitional figures and a more overt allegory in COMEDY as a whole.[08:15] Two bits of song: a fragment of a beatitude in Latin (from Matthew 5:7) and an exhortation in medieval Florentine.[12:07] The question who sings these two phrases.[15:13] The shifting dynamic in COMEDY to the correction, not of behavior, but of the mind.[18:44] Virgil's gloss on scarcity and abundance, as well as the civic threat of envy.[26:42] The problem of the audience for Guido's (and Virgil's!) speech.[30:45] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, lines 34 - 57.

Dante the poet is playing a very crafty game. He's been pulling out all the stops with two metaphors to help us understand the weight, meaning, and timing of the light . . . and then he redefines that source of light right underneath all those metaphors.And just as the poet pulls off that trick, Virgil also redefines the very terms on which PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, ended, as he undertakes a reassessment of "pleasure" or "delight."Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at this key passage in the on-going struggle to translate what seems into what is.If you'd like to help underwrite this podcast, please consider a one-time or even monthly donation using this PayPal link right here. Every bit helps with streaming, licensing, hosting, editing, royalty, and domain fees.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:27] My English translation of this short passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, lines 25 - 33. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[02:29] Virgil redefines "pleasure" or "delight," a word from the end of Canto XIV.[04:28] The passage also redefines the source (or refraction?) of the light.[07:22] Virgil remains the central redefinition in all of PURGATORIO.[08:24] A three-step structural notion of spiritual progress in PURGATORIO: "outside us," "inside us," and "above us."[14:00] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, lines 25 - 33.

Dante and Virgil pass on beyond the envious along the second terrace of Purgatory proper. As we enter the first of the middle three canti of all of COMEDY, Dante is blinded by the sun, about as we're blinded by his increasingly complex poetics.These passages begin the brilliant fun of the second half of the poem. Dante begins to play with meaning, poetics, and metaphor as never before, challenging us and pushing us into a spot of disorientation, all the while bringing us to a spot of revelation.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we see the sun as never before in the opening lines of PURGATORIO, Canto XV. Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:19] My English translation of this passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, lines 1 - 24. If you'd like to read along or to continue the conversation with me, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:37] PURGATORIO Canto XV is a liminal canto, existing between disorientation and revelation.[13:58] Two unique words in COMEDY in this opening passage (that is, two hapax legomena).[17:19] Telling time by the sun and playing around with it, as it plays around in the sky.[22:18] The sun and blindness at the opening and closing of our time on the terrace of the envious.[24:56] Medieval science that can reformulate the plot into poetic language.[28:30] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, lines 1 - 24.

Having been accosted by two voices decrying the fate of the envious on the second terrace of Purgatory proper, Dante and Virgil begin to walk toward a stairway to the third terrace. As they do, Virgil, silent for quite a while, refocuses and reinterprets most of what we've read in PURGATORIO, Cantos XIII and XIV. He offers circularity in place of the linear descent so described by Sapía and Guido del Duca.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we see Virgil come into his own in Purgatory.If you'd like to help underwrite the hosting, streaming, editing, and licensing fees associated with this podcast, please consider donating whatever you can by using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:33] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, lines 142 - 151. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:28] The bit, the rein, and the lure: in the passage at hand and in medieval iconography.[07:55] The question of what and how Virgil knows and can know the mechanics of Purgatory.[14:00] Refocusing the cantos of the envious.[16:52] Circularity inscribed into linearity.[21:51] Pain, redemption, and interpretation.[26:49] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, lines 142 - 151.

With Guido del Duca enmeshed in his tears, Dante the pilgrim and Virgil begin to talk on along the terrace of envy, searching for a way up to the third terrace of Purgatory.Lo and behold, they're struck by two voices, just as they were when they got up to this terrace. This time, it's Cain and Aglauros, speaking on the wind.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we begin to conclude our time with the envious and encounter a Biblical and a classical voice to warn us of the final dangers of envy.If you'd like to help support this podcast by underwriting its streaming, licensing, hosting, and domain fees, please consider donating whatever you can using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:23] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, lines 127 - 141. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please find the entry for this podcast episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[02:46] Silence, then the first departing voice from the terrace of the envious: Cain, after his fratricide and banishment.[09:35] The second departing voice from the terrace of envy: Aglauros, from Ovid's METAMORPHOSES.[15:37] Dante sidesteps toward Virgil, an unusual move.[17:49] Comparing and contrasting the four voices on the wind along the terrace of the envious.[21:07] Is nostalgia an appropriate response to social inequality and its prompting of envy?[24:58] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, lines 127 - 141.