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Sordello leads Virgil (and Dante the pilgrim, whom Sordello has hardly noticed) on to the beautiful dale on the lower slopes of Mount Purgatory.

This passage is one of the first where the poet has to write about beauty. And in doing so, he has to renegotiate his position toward Virgil's great poem, THE AENEID.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at the steps up to the ridge that overlooks what will become the beautiful valley of the kings.

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

[01:13] My English translation of this passage: PURGATORIO, Canto VII, lines 64 - 81. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:37] With minimal effort, Sordello, Virgil, and Dante the pilgrim come to what seems to be the Elysian Fields of THE AENEID's afterlife.

[07:23] Dante's poetry may not yet be astute enough to handle beauty, rather than terror.

[13:05] If this spot in PURGATORIO is indeed an allusion to the Elysian Fields, then what of Limbo back in INFERNO?

[18:42] Rereading all of PURGATORIO, Canto VII, through this moment: lines 1 - 81.