Virgil has replied to Cato--and now it's Cato's turn to answer back. This time, Cato doesn't seem so threatening. He seems more willing to help Virgil and Dante. Why could that be?

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore Cato's second speech at the opening of PURGATORIO. We'll talk through its implications and see how it opens up the possibilities of redemption this early on in the second third of Dante's masterwork, COMEDY.

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

[01:13] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto I, lines 85 - 111. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, just scroll down this page.

[03:40] Did Virgil make a mistake in mentioning Marcia? Or is Virgil even more human in this canticle?

[06:01] Cato most likely was redeemed during Jesus's harrowing of hell.

[09:03] There's a strange Latinate construction at line 87. It feels very much like legalese.

[11:08] Cato addresses his reply to Virgil, thereby accepting Virgil as Dante's guide.

[12:23] Cato's reference to a "smooth rush" may call us back to the wood of the suicides in INFERNO Canto XIII. And his reference to "reclothing" the pilgrim may have a reference to St. Paul's theology in it.

[15:43] Cato indicates that rhetoric won't save them--but their story will.

[18:19] Cato is not the first minister of Purgatory--which leads some to say that Cato is not ultimately redeemed.

[20:16] Pliancy is a prime virtue of PURGATORIO, both for the pilgrim and the reader.

[22:58] Cato warns them off, as the Magi may have been warned off after Jesus's birth.

[25:19] The sun is rising on Easter Sunday morning.

[26:37] Our first glimpse of the mountain ahead of us.

[27:25] The pilgrim stands up--a huge change from his behavior in INFERNO, Canto I.

[28:55] Rereading PURGATORIO Canto I Lines 28 - 111.

And here’s my English translation of Purgatorio, Canto I, Lines 85 – 111

“Marcia was so pleasing to my eyes,

When I still had my existence over there,” this [old] one then said,

“That I did whatever favor she sought from me.

 

“Now that she’s taken up residence beyond the evil river,

She can no longer compel me to do anything,

As it was so legislated when I got out.

 

“But if a lady from heaven moves and commands you,

As you say, there’s no need for flattery.

It’s well and enough for you to ask me for the sake of that lady.

 

“Go then and see that you re-clothe this one

With a smooth rush—in other words, that you wash his face

To get rid of all that filth.

 

“You see, it’s not right, with his eyes

So clouded like that, for him to go

Before the first minister, who himself comes from Paradise.

 

“At the lowest spot all around this little island,

Where the waves crash against the shore,

There are some rushes that flourish in the soft mud.

 

“No other plant can leaf out down there

Or even become sturdy enough to thrive with life

Against the incessant battering of those waves.

 

“When you have done that, don’t come back here.

The sun, which is just now beginning to rise,

Will show you an easier path up the mountain.”

 

And just like that, he disappeared. I then stood up

Without saying a word and pulled up as close as I could

To my leader, drawing my eyes toward him.