We finally get to know our unknown shade on the fifth terrace of Purgatory: Statius, the epic Roman poet.

His salvation is one of the most audacious moves in all of COMEDY. Dante has to work every fiction-making muscle he has to assert that this pagan poet has spend so long in Purgatory on his way to heaven . . . and finds himself face to face with Virgil, his poetic inspiration and apparently the carrier of God's revelation.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we discover another way that love moves the fence.

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

[01:52] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXI, lines 76 - 102. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[04:49] Introducing Publius Papinius Statius (45 - 96 CE), the author of THE THEBIAD and THE ACHILLEID . . . and a soul who should never be here in Purgatory.

[10:36] Virgil's continued insistence on the "why?"

[13:38] The lamentable if inevitable bloom of antisemitism in COMEDY.

[17:30] Statius, always without faith in the historical record but always vocalized in COMEDY.

[20:36] The shocking conjunction of THE AENEID and babytalk.

[24:06] A bit of heresy from Statius . . . unless the redeemed don't have to be perfect.

[27:19] Why Statius in Canto XXI of PURGATORIO?

[31:35] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXI, lines 76 - 102.