Dante wants to know why some people have it good and some, bad. Virgil, seemingly impatient, sets into his sermon on the goddess Fortune who controls this world. It's boiler-plate Boethius . . . but may be a lot more, too.

We've come to the back part of Canto VII of INFERNO. We've seen those who hoard their wealth and those who spend too much. And Virgil's got some sort of answer. Trouble is, it's not a satisfying answer. Nor (I think) are standard interpretations of this passage in INFERNO.

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Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:03] I read all of INFERNO, Canto VII through this passage: lines 67 - 96. To find my English translation, discover a deeper study guide, or even continue the conversation with me about this passage by dropping a comment, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[06:39] A series of glosses on this passage to explain some of the more opaque lines.

[13:00] Stepping back, let's look at Virgil's sermon. First off, it's from Boethius' work ON THE CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY. This (pseudo-)orthodox work causes some cracks in Dante's poem.

[20:25] Four interpretive stances on Virgil's sermon about Fortune: 1) Virgil is wrong, 2) Virgil is right (because his character in COMEDY is changing), 3) Virgil is right but within limits, and 4) this passage isn't about Virgil but is the start of the progress of revelation in COMEDY.