Ascend - The Great Books Podcast

By Harrison Garlick and Adam Minihan

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We are a weekly Great Books podcast hosted by Deacon Harrison Garlick and Adam Minihan.

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Number 1: Bartleby, the Scrivener by Melville
Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, we end Short Story September with “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street” by Melville - a seemingly simple tale about men in a law office that becomes a puzzling, existential tale. Dcn. Garlick is joined by two excellent guests: Mr. Joey Bremer, a teacher at Holy Family Classical School and an iconographer studying at the King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts in London, and “Montana” of Montana Classical College, an anonymous scholar who runs an X account that shares incredible insights on Melville’s Moby Dick. Overall, “Bartleby, the Scrivener” is a perplexing, existential tale that tends to quietly unsettle you by revealing the realities of modern life. CHECK OUT THE NEW ASCEND BOOK CLUB This episode of Ascend takes up Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street,” a quiet, unsettling tale whose central figure answers nearly every request with the same spare formula: “I would prefer not to.” The conversation lingers on the contrast between that stubborn preference and the narrator’s own softness—an elderly lawyer who prizes the easiest way of life, cannot quite govern his office, and keeps mistaking indecision for charity. Names, nicknames, dull eyes, and the cramped windows that look onto other walls all become clues: who in this world still possesses a will, and who has already been reduced to a role? Listeners are invited to sit with the story’s larger questions rather than resolve them. What does the monotonous labor of copying do to a man? How does a commercial, conventional life flatten thumos and leave even well-meaning people lukewarm? Why does Bartleby’s refusal feel at once more human and more deathly than the quirks of his co-workers? Drawing on the textures of Moby-Dick and the aporetic spirit of Plato, the discussion treats the tale as a puzzle that rewards patient attention—an invitation to notice what modernity may have done to the soul, and to return to the text itself with sharper eyes. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Melville and 'Bartleby' 00:12 Introduction to the episode and main themes 02:05 Biographical context of Melville's life 03:47 Overview of 'Bartleby the Scrivener' 06:54 Themes of monotony and human will 09:59 Character analysis: the narrator and Bartleby 14:57 Philosophical and literary connections 20:05 Implications for modern life and office culture 25:00 Concluding thoughts and interpretations 44:30 Dark passages and existential reflections in 'Bartleby' 45:25 Repetition of life and the prison of modernity 46:24 The loneliness of Bartleby and the narrator's solitude 46:56 Prison as a metaphor for societal dehumanization 48:02 Bartleby's awareness of death and existential insight 50:24 The role of the dead letters office and existential suffering 51:29 Melville's possible critique of modernity and capitalism 53:06 The dehumanizing nature of copying work and modern labor 55:07 Bartleby's refusal as act of will and control 57:47 Reason, preference, and the will in Bartleby's choices 01:00:20 The significance of small acts and existential meaning 01:02:19 Melville's relationship with Plato and classical philosophy 01:09:24 The philosophical underpinnings of Melville's critique 01:12:10 The aporetic nature of the story and open-ended interpretation 01:15:15 Comparison with other literary characters and philosophical figures 01:18:36 Fate, free will, and the acceptance of mortality 01:21:55 Melville, Plato, and the modern crisis of human nature 01:24:52 Final reflections on the story's philosophical depth and relevance CHECK OUT THE NEW ASCEND BOOK CLUB
September 22, 20261h 30min
Number 2: Enduring Chill by Flannery O'Connor with Dr. Joseph Boyne
Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, Dcn. Garlick is joined by Dr. Joseph Boyne to discuss Flannery O'Connor's "Enduring Chill" as part of Short Story September. Visit thegreatbookspodcast.com for our reading schedule, articles, and a whole host of written guides. Asbury Fox, the failed New York writer who returns home to his mother’s dairy farm convinced he is dying a tragic, Kafka-esque death, meets a rural doctor, two farmhands who refuse to share his resentment, and a deaf, one-eyed priest from Purrgatory who simply walks him through the Baltimore Catechism. What begins as another Southern Gothic confrontation with pride becomes something rarer in O’Connor: a dark comedy in which the protagonist desires of a romantic death are met with an enduring chill. Dr. Boyne and Dcn. Garlick draw out the story’s autobiographical shadows, its critique of performative liberalism and abstract love of humanity, and the way O’Connor uses both the Jesuit in New York and the homely Father Finn to insist that meaning—and grace—cannot be manufactured from the self. The conversation lingers on the water-stain dove that descends as ice rather than fire, the question of whether the tale is comic or merely purgatorial, and what it means for those of us who prize the Great Books that education, by itself, is never enough. Listeners who have been scarred by “The Lame Shall Enter First” will find this one far easier to finish—and far more unsettling in its quiet demand that we keep living. Chapters 00:05 — Podcast intro and the reading plan for Short Story September 01:01 — Introducing Enduring Chill and Dr. Joseph Boyne 03:21 — Why Dr. Boyne picked the story 05:00 — Flannery O’Connor and the Southern Gothic tradition 12:55 — The grotesque, violence, and grace in O’Connor 20:32 — Asbury returns home and the education theme 30:30 — Asbury’s desire for a meaningful death and the Jesuit in New York 41:42 — Dr. Block and Asbury’s confrontation with illness 50:00 — The dairy farm, the black workers, and failed communion 57:13 — Asking for a priest and the dream sequence 70:29 — Father Finn arrives and subverts Asbury’s expectations 80:31 — Randall and Morgan return 85:34 — Dr. Block diagnoses the illness correctly 87:40 — Final scene: the Holy Ghost in ice and the enduring chill 96:23 — Closing reflections on O’Connor and the story’s meaning Keywords Flannery O’Connor The Enduring Chill short story analysis, Ascend the Great Books Podcast Short Story September episode with Deacon Harrison Garlick and Dr. Joseph Boyne of Tulsa Community College, Southern Gothic literature, Catholic short stories, Christ-haunted South, Asbury Fox character study, Jesuit priest Ignatius Vogle, Father Finn from Purgatory, Baltimore Catechism, Holy Spirit as ice instead of fire, undulant fever raw milk irony, performative liberalism and racial condescension, education versus practical wisdom, grotesque as medium of grace, O’Connor comedy versus tragedy, Good Country People comparison, lupus and autobiographical elements, Great Books education critique, upcoming Plato Republic series, Robert E. Howard Red Shadows Solomon Kane, Neil Gaiman Chivalry with Archduke Eduard Habsburg, Herman Melville Bartleby the Scrivener.
September 01, 20261h 41min
Number 3: Introduction to Dante's Purgatorio with Dr. Jason Baxter
Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, Dr. Jason Baxter and Dcn. Harrison Garlick come together to introduce Dante's Purgatorio and Dr. Baxter's new translation! We are reading Dante's Purgatorio for Lent. Join us! Visit thegreatbookspodcast.com for our reading schedule! Check out our LIBRARY of written guides to the great books! DISCOUNT: Check out Dr. Jason Baxter's website and enter "Ascend" to receive **20%** off the Purgatorio audiobook read by Dr. Baxter! Check out Dr. Baxter's Substack article on his new translation. And thank you to the Center of Beauty and Culture at Benedictine College for promoting this reading of the Purgatorio! Dr. Baxter first describes the Center for Beauty and Culture at Benedictine College as a fellowship program (Angelico Fellows) that immerses students in beauty across the arts, music, literature, and theology—through concerts, museums, and pilgrimages—to foster interiority and the conviction that “beauty can save the world.” The conversation then contrasts Purgatorio with the Inferno: while the latter is dark, lurid, and focused on judgment, Purgatorio is a place of hope, mercy, transformation, and “eternal New Year’s resolutions,” where repentant souls engage in spiritual exercises to purify their tarnished mirrors, learn authentic love and prayer, and prepare for Paradise. Baxter likens the shift to moving from heavy metal to Schubert, emphasizing greenness, brightness, and unexpected mercy. Baxter explains that his translation began as a personal quest for mastery—going word-by-word to internalize Dante like memorizing a piano piece—but evolved into a philosophy capturing Dante’s “fugue” of style: ascending, prolix syntax with lofty classical allusions layered over humble, earthy words that reflect Franciscan humility and incarnational Christian poetics. Examples include goats ruminating on the “foco d’amore” (fire of love) amid elevated star imagery, or Statius calling Virgil’s Aeneid “una mamma” (translated “mommy”). He describes Purgatorio as spiritual surgery—painfully removing the soul’s “carcinogenic” elements through grace-filled cooperation—and a map for configuring to Christ beyond mere sin avoidance. Baxter advises first-time readers to pause at puzzling images or word choices, ask “why would Dante do that here?,” trust their instincts, and consider his audiobook for the text’s soundscape, while Deacon Garlick stresses the canticle’s role as a spiritual guide that mirrors one’s own maturation toward God. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Ascend and Dante's Purgatorio 03:43 The Center for Beauty and Culture 05:40 Understanding Dante's Purgatorio 07:54 The Nature of Purgatorio 14:54 Dante the Pilgrim vs. Dante the Poet 19:32 The Spirituality of Translation 20:14 The Philosophy of Translation 30:02 Dante's Christian Poetics 34:22 Exploring Dante's Poetic Style 36:51 Juxtaposition in Dante's Imagery 41:42 The Concept of Spiritual Surgery 44:49 The Journey of Holiness 48:13 The Role of Love in Dante's Theology 52:00 Eros and the Ascent to Divine Beauty 55:29 Engaging with Dante: Tips for First-Time Readers Join us next week as we start Dante's Purgatorio for Lent! SCHEDULE: 2.10.26: Introduction with Dr. Jason Baxter, Benedictine College 2.17.26: Cantos 1-5 (Ante-Purgatory) with Dr. Donald Prudlo, University of Tulsa 2.24.26: Cantos 6-12 (Ante-Purgatory, Gate, First Terrace) with Luke Heintschel, Headmaster, Coeur du Christ Academy 3.3.26: Cantos 13-17 (Envy and Wrath) with Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson, Pepperdine University 3.10.26: Cantos 18-22 (Avarice and Prodigality) with Dr. Sarah Berry, University of Dallas 3.17.26: Cantos 23-27 (Gluttony and Lust) with Fr. Patrick Briscoe, OP 3.24.26: Cantos 28-31 (Earthly Paradise) with Dr. Michael West, University of Dallas. 3.31.26: Cantos 32-33 (Beatrice) with Joshua Charles and Dr. Frank Grabowski, Holy Family Classical School DISCOUNT: Check out Dr. Jason Baxter's website and enter "Ascend" to receive **20%** off the Purgatorio audiobook read by Dr. Baxter! PS - Like the icon in the background? Check out Joey Bremer's incredible hand painted icons!
February 10, 20261h 4min
Number 4: Dante's Inferno Ep. 3: Cantos 6-11 with Dr. Jason Baxter
Today, we finish lower hell. Dcn. Harrison Garlick is joined by Dr. Jason Baxter of Benedictine College to discuss cantos 6-11 of Dante's Inferno. Check out thegreatbookspodcast.com for other great books! Check out our Patreon for our 80+ Question & Answer guide to the Inferno. From our guide:27. The Third Circle of Hell – Gluttony (Canto 6) Musa explains the third circle and the contrapasso, “the shades in this circle are the gluttons, and their punishment fits their sin. Gluttony, like all the sins of incontinence, subjects reason to desire; in this case desire is a voracious appetite. Thus, the shades howl like dogs—in desire, without reason; they are sunk in slime, the image of their excess. The warm comfort their gluttony brought them in life here has become cold, dirty rain and hail.”[1] The beast Cerberus—a “three-headed doglike beast”—dwells in the third circle.[2] The beast both represents the sin of gluttony through its own immense appetite and further punishes those shades in the third circle as he “flays and mangles” the shades of that circle.[3] Musa also notes “with his three heads, he appears to be a prefiguration of Lucifer and thus another infernal distortion of the Trinity.”[4] On their way toward the fourth circle, Dante the Pilgrim asks Virgil whether the punishment of the souls in hell will be increased or lessened on the Final Judgment.[5] Virgil explains that the pain of those in hell will be “more perfect” after the Final Judgment, as the souls in hell will be reunited with their bodies after the bodily resurrection.[6]30. The Fourth Circle of Hell – the Prodigal & Miserly (VII)As Virgil and the Pilgrim enter into the fourth circle of hell, they are greeted by Plutus (Pluto), the Roman god of wealth, who speaks incoherently and whom Virgil dismisses by calling him “cursed Wolf of hell.”[1] The reference to “wolf” recalls the she-wolf at the beginning and reminds the reader the Pilgrim is still journeying through the circles of sins related to incontinence. Here the Pilgrim sees shades “to the sound of their own screams, straining their chests, they rolled enormous weights, and when they met and clashed against each other… screaming ‘Why hoard?,’ the other side, ‘why waste?’”[2] The Pilgrim sees the contrapasso of the miserly and the prodigal, who, forming two semi-circles, push their heavy weights (symbolizing their material wealth) and shove against each other (as their disordered uses of wealth were opposite).[3] Virgil teaches the Pilgrim about Lady Fortune, who serves as an angel of God determining the fortunes of men and nations.[4] Note that Lady Fortune is often depicted with a wheel, and that this circle of hell resembles a giant broken wheel of the shades that mismanaged their fortune.[5]34. What happens in the Fifth Circle of Hell: the Wrathful & Slothful (Cantos 7-8)?Virgil and the Pilgrim leave the broken wheel of the fourth circle and come upon “a swamp that has the name of Styx.”[1] The river Styx, the sordid marsh-like second river of hell, serves as the fifth circle. Here, the Pilgrim sees “muddy people moving in that marsh, all naked, with their faces scarred by rage,” who “fought each other, not with hands alone, but struck with head and chest and feet as well, with teeth they tore each other limb from limb.”[2] These are the wrathful souls, “the souls of those that anger overcame,” who are punished alongside another group of souls who lay face up under the murky surface.[3] The identity of these souls is debated.[4] The souls beneath the surface, “who make the waters bubble at the surface,” say to the Pilgrim: “sluggish we were in the sweet air made happy by the sun, and the some of sloth was smoldering in our hearts; now we lie sluggish here in this black muck.”[5] The best take is that these souls represent slothfulness or acedia; thus, the fifth circle, like the fourth, has two related sins in the same circle: wrath (excess) and acedia (deficient).[6] Virgil and the Pilgrim cross the river Styx with the help of the boatman, Phlegyas, a wrathful son of Mars from Roman mythology.[7] As they cross the river, a wrathful soul rises up and is rebuked by Dante the Pilgrim in stanch contrast to the pity he showed the sinners in the second and third circles.[8] Dante rebuking the sinner and remembering it fondly shows more of an alignment with the Divine Will than pitying them.Check out our guide for more questions and answers!Good work!
March 18, 20251h 55min
Number 5: Dante's Inferno Ep. 2: Cantos 2-5 with Dr. Jennifer Frey and Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson
Dante approaches the gates of hell! Dcn. Harrison Garlick is joined by Dr. Jennifer Frey, the Dean of the new Honors College at the University of Tulsa, and Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson, the Fletcher Jones Chair of Great Books at Pepperdine University, to discuss cantos 2-5 of Dante's Inferno. Check out thegreatbookspodcast.com. Check out OUR GUIDE to Dante's Inferno: 80+ Questions and Answers.13. What happens in the Vestibule of Hell (Cantos 2-3)?The narrative of the Dark Woods in Canto 1 is arguably the introduction to the entire Divine Comedy, and as such, Canto 2 serves as the introduction to the first volume or canticle, the Inferno.[1] Note that Dante begins the Canto by invoking the Muses, which was common in the “classic epic tradition.”[2] The Canto explains that the Virgin Mary took pity on Dante, and she told Saint Lucia to help him. St. Lucia then asked Beatrice, a soul in heaven who knows Dante, to help Dante; Beatrice then went into hell and asked Virgil to be Dante's guide.[3] Whereas the three beasts of Canto I represent the threefold structure of hell, the three ladies of Canto 2 represent grace.[4] His heart emboldened, Dante and Virgil enter the “deep and rugged road” and arrive at the gate of hell.[5] The inscription of the gate reads:I AM THE WAY INTO THE DOLEFUL CITY / I AM THE WAY INTO ETERNAL GRIEF, /I AM THE WAY TO A FORSAKEN RACE. JUSTICE IT WAS THAT MOVED MY GREAT CREATOR; / DIVINE OMNIPOTENCE CREATED ME, / AND HIGHEST WISDOM JOINED WITH PRIMAL LOVE. BEFORE ME NOTHING BUT ETERNAL THINGS / WERE MADE, AND I SHALL LAST ETERNALLY. / ABANDON EVERY HOPE, ALL WHO ENTER.[6] Upon passing through the gates, the Pilgrim hears the “sighs and cries and shrieks of lamentations echo[ing] throughout the starless air of Hell.”[7] Virgil and the Pilgrim enter into the Vestibule of Hell, which is populated by souls who lived a lukewarm life with “no blame and no praise,” and by the angels who at Lucifer's great rebellion remained undecided.[8] Here, Dante the Poet introduces the concept of contrapasso, i.e., “the just punishment of sin, effected by a process either resembling or contrasting with the sin itself.”[9] In the Vestibule, the contrapasso for the souls and angels who lived undecided is to eternally march after a banner.[10] Amongst “great a number,” the Pilgrim sees the shade of the “coward who had made the great refusal.”[11] While there are many interpretations, “perhaps it is most likely that this shade is Pontius Pilate, who refused to pass sentence on Christ.”[12] Virgil and the Pilgrim come to the river Acheron where they are ferried across by the demon Charon—“the boatman of classical mythology who transports the souls of the dead across the Acheron into Hades.”[13] As they cross the Acheron, a mighty wind blows against the Pilgrim and he swoons—a literary device that serves to close a narrative and introduce another.[14]14. How is Dante the Pilgrim going on a hero’s journey?The tradition presents many heroes who have adventured down into the underworld and returned, including Heracles, Odysseus, and Aeneas. Dr. Wilson notes that while Dante the Pilgrim will also travel into the underworld, he does not do so as a hero in the classical sense. Dante the Pilgrim is weak and spiritually malformed. He undergoes his journey for the sake of his own formation and spiritual maturation. As Dr. Frey observes, the movement of Providence is evident in these cantos, as everyone is sent: the Blessed Virgin Mary sends St. Lucy, St. Lucy sends Beatrice, and Beatrice sends Virgil. Ultimately, Dante the Pilgrim is sent into hell.16. Who is Beatrice?When he was a child, he first saw the young girl Beatrice when she was eight or nine years old. He is said to have fallen in love with her, though it is not clear that he even spoke to her until several years later. When he was a child, Dante was promised in marriage to another, but Beatrice—whom he never seems to have known well—remained his muse. He wrote courtly love poems about her and her beauty. She died in AD 1290. In his Comedy, whereas Virgil represents human reason unaided by grace, Beatrice will represent grace and beauty. Her beauty becomes an icon of God’s beauty calling Dante the Pilgrim’s soul down through hell and up through purgatory. Dante the Pilgrim will have to learn how to allow this love for the beauty of Beatrice to perfect into a love for the beauty of God.18. What is a contrapasso?With the lukewarm souls that both heaven and hell reject, the reader is introduced to the concept of the contrapasso. In sum, each punishment of the damned is tailored to their particular sin and this tailoring always has a pedagogical purpose. For example, here the lukewarm, who stood for nothing in life, are forced to march behind a banner for all eternity. The contrapasso reveals something about the nature of the sin punished, which is then catechetical for the reader. Note, as Dr. Frey observed, that the lukewarm are harassed along by insects or rather the source of their movement is external to them. The lukewarm lack the inner capacity to move, just as they did in life.22. The First Circle of Hell – Limbo (Canto 4)The Pilgrim awakes, and Virgil leads him into the First Circle of Hell. The Pilgrim hears “the sounds of sighs of untormented grief” of “men and women and of infants.”[18] The circle is known as Limbo and is populated by naturally virtuous non-Christians and by unbaptized infants. As Virgil states: “But their great worth alone was not enough, for they did not know Baptism, which is the gateway to the faith you follow.”[19] The contrapasso of Limbo is that the virtuous souls live out eternity in a paradise devoid of the Beatific Vision. Like themselves, it is naturally good but lacks the grace of God.Dante the Poet equates Limbo with Sheol or Abraham's Bosom in the Old Testament; thus, Virgil tells him of “a mighty lord” who entered Limbo—Christ's Harrowing of Hell—and liberated Adam, Abel, Noah, Moses, Abram, David, Israel, Rachel, and “many more he chose for blessedness.”[20] Dante sees many famous Greek and Roman poets in Limbo, which in turn greet Dante as a fellow poet.[21] The Pilgrim approaches a castle in Limbo and “the inhabitants of the great castle are important pagan philosophers and poets, as well as famous warriors.”[22] Most notably, the Pilgrim sees Aristotle, the “master sage,” to whom “all pay their homage.”[23] He is sitting with his “philosophy family” with Socrates on one side and Plato on the other.[24] For Dante the Poet, “Aristotle represented the summit of human reason, that point that man could reach on his own without the benefit of Christian revelation.”[25] In fact, “with the exception of the Bible, Dante draws most often from Aristotle.”[26] Virgil and the Pilgrim leave the great castle and approach the “place where no light is.”[27]25. The Second Circle of Hell – Lust (V)Virgil and the Pilgrim come upon King Minos, the judge of Hell. In classical literature, King Minos “was the son of Zeus and Europa” and “as the king of Crete he was revered for his wisdom and judicial gifts.”[28] In Virgil's Aeneid, King Minos serves as the “chief magistrate of the underworld,” and Dante the Poet retains this classic notion; however, in the Inferno, King Minos has certain bestial qualities, most notably a tail, which, after the “evil soul appears before him, it confesses all,” wraps around himself and throws them in the corresponding circle of hell.[29] For example, King Minos would wrap his tail twice around himself for a shade condemned to the second circle of hell.Virgil and the Pilgrim continue and come upon an “infernal storm, eternal in its rage” blowing thousands of souls around in the wind.[30] The contrapasso of the lustful souls who “make reason slave to appetite” is to be blown around and battered by a great wind—just as they allowed their reason to be blown around by their passions.[31] Here, the Pilgrim sees Cleopatra, Helen, Achilles, Paris, Tristan, and others.[32] The Pilgrim speaks to two souls buffeted by the winds: Francesca da Rimini and Paolo. It is in the Second Circle of Hell that Dante the Pilgrim’s pity is shown as disordered and contrary to the Divine Will, as he falls prey to the rhetoric of Francesca.[33] As she tells the story of her life that led her to the Second Circle of Hell, the Pilgrim is moved toward pity: “Francesca, the torment that you suffer brings painful tears of pity to my eyes.”[34] The Pilgrim's journey through hell will have several such encounters in which the Pilgrim will need to discern the true nature of sin and comprehend the divine justice that placed the soul there.[1] Id., 77-9. Canto 1 as an introduction to the whole Comedy is further evidenced by the fact the Inferno as 34 cantos, while Purgatorio and Paradiso have 33 each. The extra canto in the Inferno is an introduction to the whole. Dr. Wilson also noted that canto 1 is the introduction of Dante the Pilgrim, while canto 2 is the introduction of Dante the Poet.[2] Id., 84, noting that similar invocations will be made at the beginning of the Purgatory and the Paradise.[3] The Blessed Mother taking “pity” on Dante begins a “major motif of the Inferno,” which plays an important part in the “education of the Pilgrim.” Musa, 83, ln. 5.[4] Id., 85-6.[5] Canto II, ln. 142.[6] Canto III, lns. 1-9. Note the inscription above the gate mentions omnipotence, wisdom, and love—a triad formula that has been interpreted as “the gate of Hell was created by the Trinity moved by Justice.” Musa, 93, ln. 5-6. Dr. Frey and Dr. Wilson note that “through me” not “I am” is a better translation.[7] Canto III, ln. 22-3.[8] Canto III, ln. 36, see also 40-42 on angels.[9] Musa, 94, ln. 52-69.[10] Id., Canto III, lns. 52-57. The belief that there were neutral angels that would not choose to follow God or Satan seems to be a narrative of Dante’s own invention.[11] Canto III, ln. 60.[12] Musa, 95, ln. 60.[13] Canto III, lns. 78, 94; Musa, 95.[14] Musa, 96, ln. 136.[15] See Esolen, 423-24.[16] Esolen, 19.[17] Esolen, canto 3, ln. 103.[18] Canto IV, lns. 28, 30.[19] Canto IV, lns. 34-6.[20] Canto IV, lns. 52-63.[21] Musa, 103, lns 91-93.[22] Musa, 204; lns. 112-44; along with virtuous Greek and Romans, Dante includes three virtuous medieval Muslims, i.e., the warrior Saladin, and two Islamic commentators on Aristotle: Avicenna and Averroes. See Musa, 106-108.[23] Canto IV, lns. 130-35.[24] Canto IV, lns. 132, 134.[25] Musa, 106; ln. 131.[26] Id.[27] Canto IV, ln. 150.[28] Musa, 114-15, ln. 4.[29] Canto V, lns. 4-12.[30] Canto V, lns. 31-33.[31] Canto V, lns. 31-39.[32] Canto V, lns. 55-69.[33] Musa, 114. Dr. Wilson makes a comparison between Paolo and Francesca reading a book and falling into lust, with St. Augustine taking up and reading Scripture to be delivered from lust in the Confessions. Similarly, Dr. Frey posits that Dante the Poet could be acknowledging that poetry can lead people into sin, especially the courtly love poetry popular at the time. Possible Dante the Pilgrim fainting is him realizing his courtly love poetry could lead to a soul being condemned for all eternity.[34] Canto V, lns. 116-17; in the fourth circle, see Dante's pity for Ciacco (Musa, 126, ln. 59); Francesca is in hell for lust, for seduction, and in telling her tale, she seduces Dante the Pilgrim. She is still practicing the sin for which she was condemned.
March 11, 20251h 40min