We've come to the end of the angel sequence in PURGATORIO, Canto II. The souls arrive on the shores of Purgatory singing a psalm that is unique in the medieval liturgy and that points to important pieces of Dante's developing theology.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this short passage from PURGATORIO, talking about some of its INFERNO references, talking about a garbled line in the text, and reading closely the psalm the souls are singing.

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

[00:48] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto II, lines 43 - 51. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please scroll down this page.

[02:00] INFERNO references in the passage: to Charon and (of course!) Ulysses.

[04:44] A garbled line in the passage and a possible explanation for the textual problems here and ahead.

[08:50] A close reading of the psalm the souls are singing as they arrive at Purgatory.

[19:49] A question about the psalm's musicality in medieval liturgy: one of the only known examples of the "tonus peregrinus."

[22:37] Rereading the entire angel sequence: PURGATORIO, Canto II, lines 13 - 51.

Here’s my English translation of Purgatorio, Canto II, Lines 43 – 51

The celestial helmsman stood at the stern.

He was the type that had “blessedness” inscribed right on him.

And more than a hundred souls were seated on board.

“In exitu Israël de Aegypto,”

They sang in plainsong chant, all together but with one voice,

With the rest of that psalm as their on-going text.

He [the angel] made the sign of the cross over them,

At which point they jumped out onto the beach

And he took off just as he’d arrived—in other words, fast.