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Sordello stands amazed in the presence of the great poet Virgil. The pilgrim Dante? Seemingly forgotten.

Sordello wants to know how this classical poet got into Purgatory. So Virgil offers an explanation that reiterates what we know about Limbo but also redefines Limbo and perhaps causes Dante the poet to trip across the wires of his own thinking.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we watch Dante renegotiate the presence of Virgil in COMEDY once again, ever trying to come to terms with a pagan poet in a Christian poem.

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

[01:43] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto VII, lines 16 - 36. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or continue the conversation with me, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:49] How is Virgil the "glory of the Latins" as Sordello claims? What does that mean to Sordello (and to Dante)?

[06:02] There are at least two ways to handle Sordello's claim: 1) Latin was Virgil's vernacular or 2) Virgil showed the capabilities of language itself.

[10:28] Apparently, Sordello isn't bothered by Virgil's eternal status.

[11:14] Virgil offers an overview of his journey. His. Is it his? What of Dante the pilgrim?

[15:22] Virgil seems both to reiterate and to redefine our understanding of Limbo.

[19:07] Dante wants the human will to be the mechanism of salvation but that notion runs contrary to the Christian doctrine of original sin.

[21:40] Dante is renovating Virgil because Virgil is the prime way Dante can renovate classical learning.