Virgil and Dante leave behind the sheeplike souls that include Manfred to begin their hard climb up Mount Purgatory.

The initial ascent is rough on the pilgrim, climbing on his hands and knees, constantly out of breath. Why do we assume the bad is always easy and the good is always hard? And if the ascent is so hard, what's in it for Virgil?

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore these moral quandaries and more in this passage about the first ascent in PURGATORIO.

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

[01:18] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto IV, lines 19 - 51. If you'd like to print it off, read along, or continue the conversation with me, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:44] How do we know all the souls around Manfred are more of the excommunicated? May some of them be other stragglers? What assumptions does Dante force us to make? And why?

[06:44] Two misdirections in this passage: 1) the pastoral imagery after the scholastic mental gymnastics and 2) a long passage of plot after a passage in which the plot had come to a dead halt.

[09:40] Rustic imagery is some of the residue of the troubadour traditions Dante has inherited.

[12:06] The widening geographical references may indicate Dante's understanding of his widening readership.

[17:17] Virgil becomes Dante's cheerleader. But what's in it for Virgil?

[20:48] Why is the good always hard and the bad always easy?

[23:56] Desire is the key to the passage--and to the climb itself.

[26:47] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto IV, lines 19 - 51.