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.