Walking With Dante

We've come to the middle of PURGATORIO . . . and indeed the middle of COMEDY as a whole. Let's take a breather and review where we've been in Purgatory since our very slow approach sometimes (or often?) causes us to privilege the trees over the forest.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I walk you through the first half of PURGATORIO one more time, mostly to remind you where we've been, but also to make sure we all understand the majestic, imaginative sweep of this canticle so far (and this poem so far).

If you'd like to help underwrite this podcast, with a one-time donation or even a small monthly contribution, you can do so at this PayPal link right here. Thank you so much for your support . . . in donations, in questions, in connections on social media, and on my website, markscarbrough.com.

We come to the end of Virgil's (first) discourse on love, as well as the end of the central canto of PURGATORIO.

But it's a strange end since Virgil admits to what he doesn't know. Having been so certain about how human behavior operates, he concludes by telling Dante the pilgrim he's on his own to find out further answers.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we conclude Virgil's astoundingly certain discourse on love with an ironic, ambiguous moment.

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

[01:41] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 127 - 139. If you'd like to read along or continue the discussion with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:31] A secondary motivation for human behavior: quiet (or peace).

[07:22] A pronoun ambiguity in the passage.

[09:23] The temporary nature of the cornices of Purgatory.

[11:14] Virgil and the core ambiguity in PURGATORIO.

[12:29] The problem of too much love.

[13:55] Love and the things Virgil cannot know.

[16:29] Rereading all of Virgil's discourse on love: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 91 - 139.

Virgil continues his discourse about love, the central discourse in all of COMEDY. It's a tour de force of scholastic reasoning . . . that may leave something to be desired after INFERNO.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore Virgil's scholastic understanding of all human action and his vision of love as the seed of all that we do.

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

[01:42] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 106 - 126. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[04:08] Virgil's scholastic background in the text.

[08:01] Virgil's two premises: no one can hate their own self or the first cause (that is, God).

[11:33] Virgil's understanding of the three terraces of Purgatory below us.

[16:12] Can Virgil be a scholastic thinker? What do we make of this very oracular Virgil?

[20:39] Virgil's argument is less a celebration of Aquinas and more one of Aristotle.

[22:48] Love may move the fence, but love doesn't tear down the fence.

[26:46] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 106 - 126.

Love is the seed … of all you do. It's news to me, given the state of the world. But not to Virgil. And certainly not to Dante's COMEDY.

Virgil's explosive claim about love lies at the center of the poem: We do right and we go wrong because of the seed of love.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at the beginning of Virgil's central discourse in COMEDY, an overwhelming statement about human motivation and the nature of God.

If you'd like to help underwrite the many costs of this podcast, please consider donating at this PayPal link right here.

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

[01:43] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 91 - 105. If you'd like to read along or continue the discussion with me, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:57] Virgil's explosive claim: love is the seed of all human action.

[05:27] Virgil's scholastic divisions of love.

[08:38] A translation problem: "o naturale o d'anima."

[12:40] Virgil's understand of the two types of love.

[14:59] Virgil's odd repetition of his own argument.

[18:27] The basis of Dante's thought: the Bible, Aristotle, and Aquinas.

[27:27] Dante's source: William Perault's SUMMA DE VITIIS ET VIRTURTIBUS. (Ugh, my Latin pronunciation!)

[29:16] But what then of the fall in the Garden of Eden?

[30:59] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 91 - 105.

Welcome to the fourth terrace of Purgatory proper!

Dante and Virgil reach the top of the stairs just as night falls and the pilgim loses all possibility of forward momentum. He hesitates--from sloth?--and turns to Virgil--still damned!--to explain where they are.

Virgil, the guide of Purgatory. It's still as shocking as it was sixteen cantos ago!

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we stop at the cusp of the fourth terrace of Purgatory proper.

Would you like to help underwrite the many costs of this podcast? You can do so with a donation at this PayPal link right here.

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

[01:29] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 73 - 90. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:12] What truce has been called when it comes to the pilgrim's legs? And why does this fourth terrace of Purgatory seem so very silent and empty?

[07:33] Is Dante the pilgrim hesitant? Or slothful?

[08:59] Why is Virgil's explanation of the terrace so opaque, so poetic?

[10:25] Is COMEDY beginning to value opacity?

[12:37] What is the medieval understanding of sloth? How would Dante define it?

[17:26] How does PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, match two cantos in INFERNO (XI and XVII)?

[21:02] Reading the passage again: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 73 - 90.

We're ready to get to the fourth terrace of Purgatory proper--that is, the terrace where sloth is purged.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for a read-through of this terrace, starting at Canto XVII, Line 73 (or back three lines perhaps for a running start) through the end of Canto XVIII (at Line 145).

We'll hear Virgil's great discourse on love as well as Dante's encounter with the racing slothful.

Would you like to help underwrite the costs of this podcast? You can do so at this PayPal link right here.

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

[02:11] A read-through of my rough (!) English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, line 73, through Canto XVIII, line 145.

[14:21] Some initial thoughts about Virgil's discourse on love and the terrace of the slothful.

We're stopping the walk across the known universe for a moment to catch our breath!

The podcast WALKING WITH DANTE has reached the middle of PURGATORIO, has stepped just slightly beyond the middle of COMEDY as a whole, and the podcast is going on a brief, one-month hiatus to let us all rest up for what's ahead.

Check back soon! We'll be back on the walk in PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, toward the end of October, 2024, or maybe the first of November.

Dante the poet is having great fun with light. He's playing with its various meanings: illumination, revelation, sunrise, sunset, concealment, power--all this as we approach the middle of PURGATORIO and even find ourselves in the middle of COMEDY as a whole.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore these last moments on Purgatory's terrace of the wrathful before we find ourselves again among the stars.

If you'd like to help with the many fees associated with this podcast, you can offer a small, monthly stipend or even a one-time gift using this PayPal link right here.

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

[01:41] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 40 - 72. 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.

[04:16] A dizzying interplay about light: physical/metaphysical, imaginary/revelatory, sunrise/sunset, illuminating/concealing.

[06:46] Desire and the necessary (physical) fulfillment: a lead-in to what's ahead on the journey.

[08:37] Virgil's reply, a pastiche of Biblical and classical sources.

[12:37] The beatitude that ends this terrace, plus a non-Biblical addition to it that then complicates our notion of anger.

[16:51] Stars and the center of COMEDY.

[17:39] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 40 - 72.

As Dante the pilgrim gets ready to leave the third terrace of Purgatory, the terrace of the angry, he has three ecstatic visions that warn about the dangers of excessive wrath.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at these visions and try to come to terms with the problem that Dante's rage may sit at the very center of COMEDY.

If you'd like to help underwrite the many fees for this podcast, please consider donating a very small monthly stipend or a one-time gift using this PayPal link right here.

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

[01:11] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 19 - 39. 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.

[03:13] Connecting this passage with the previous hymn to the imagination.

[07:37] A review of the first three ecstatic visions in Canto XV at the entrance to the terrace of anger.

[09:46] The first vision (from Ovid's METAMORPHOSES): a (garbled?) reduction of the Philomela, Procne, and Tereus story.

[16:31] The second vision (from the Bible): Ahasuerus, Esther, Mordecai, and Haman.

[20:37] The third vision (from THE AENEID: Queen Amata and her daughter, Lavinia.

[25:00] Dante's rage as the center of COMEDY.

[29:24] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 19 - 39.

Just a brief note to say that I've made a mistake in uploading sound files and I'm too remote a location to make any changes. I'll fix the last episode when I'm home on Sunday and we'll back on the walk.

Sorry about that! But the seals and whales of far northeastern Quebec send you their best.