Our pilgrim stands on the brink of the flames. Virgil has to use every rhetorical trick in his bag to get Dante to move . . . and the only thing that works in Beatrice.

In so doing, our poet Dante attempts his first run at defining this desire that is driving him up into the heavens. But he does so in a most curious way: by bringing up Geryon, the monster of fraud.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we stand with our pilgrim before the very real chance that the poem may catch on fire around us!

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

[01:26] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, lines 19 - 48. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment so we can continue the conversation, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[04:07] Virgil's tight rhetorical argument for getting in the flames.

[11:35] The beast of fraud and the problem of credence.

[15:47] The final push: Beatrice.

[18:12] Dante's first attempt to solve the problem of desire in his theological context.

[23:19] Our pilgrim, infantilized--and ready for the flames with an apple.

[26:02] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, lines 19 - 48.