PURGATORIO, Episode 7. Cato and Marcia, The Problems: PURGATORIO, Canto I, Lines 49 - 84

Our second episode on this tough passage. Here, we focus on Cato and Marcia, two big problems in the text. Why and how is Cato redeemed? Or is he? And how does Marcia pray for him from Limbo?

In the end, love moves the fence. But not without costs. Not without hairline fractures in Dante's COMEDY. Because moving the fence is always costly. But necessary.

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

[01:37] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto I, Lines 49 - 84. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.

[04:09] The gatekeeper of Purgatory is Cato the Younger, a Roman Stoic pagan suicide.

[06:07] How do we know this is Cato when Dante never names him? Because of references to Lucan's PHARSALIA and Dante's CONVIVIO.

[08:28] Why doesn't Dante the poet name Cato?

[09:37] Who is Marcia, Cato's wife?

[12:11]  Is Marcia truly praying for Cato from Limbo? Four possible answers.

[16:24] Is Cato truly redeemed? Many commentators quibble or just say "no."

[18:53] What does it mean that Cato is redeemed? Motive begins to count as much as action.

[22:19] Augustine's CONFESSIONS may be a structuring device for PURGATORIO: Stoicism, Platonism, Christianity.

[27:59] Cato's place in PURGATORIO heightens Virgil's tragedy and brings hairline fractures to the very structure of COMEDY.

And here is my English translation of Purgatorio, Canto I, Lines 49 – 84

At that point, my master [Virgil] reached out for me.

With words, with his hands, even with gestures,

He made me show obeisance with my knee and my brow.

Then he answered the old man: “I didn’t come under my own steam.

A lady descended from heaven. Because of her prayers,

I gave this man my company as his aid.

“But if you want a more complete explanation

Of our condition, such as it really is,

I’m certainly not the one to deny what you wish.

“This man hasn’t seen his last sunset,

Although his folly brought him pretty close to it—

So close that there was very little time left for him to turn back.

“As I said, I was given a mandate to go

To his aid. There was literally no other way,

Except this one that I’ve pressed him onto.

“I’ve shown him all the enraged peoples

And now I intend to show him those spirits

Who are purified under your jurisdiction.

“How I brought him here? That would take a long time to tell.

A great power from way up above has come down to help me

Lead him to the spot where he can see and hear you.

“May it please you now to hail his arrival.

He goes in search of freedom, which is so very precious,

As he who has given up his life for it well knows.

“You know what I’m talking about because freedom didn’t make

Your death so bitter back in Utica, where you left

The garment that will shine on that glorious last day.

“We haven’t broken any of the eternal edicts,

For he is alive and Minos doesn’t bind me.

You see, I’m from that circle where your Marcia,

“With pure eyes, prays that you,

O sacred breast, still hold her as your own.

Because of her love for you, I pray your favor.

“Let us go on through your seven realms.

I’ll report back word of you to her,

If you permit yourself to be mentioned way down there below.”