PURGATORIO, Episode 18. Refusing Love And Being Human: PURGATORIO, Canto II, Lines 106 - 117

Dante has heard Casella's weird story about hanging around back in the land of the living for three months--and not even being able to cross to Purgatory before that.

But Dante the pilgrim wants more. He wants comfort. And he gets it. With his own poetry.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we talk about love, about the ways we resist it, and the ways our resistance may show us at our most human.

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

[01:37] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto II, lines 106 - 117. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please scroll down this page.

[03:30] The "new law": a possible reference back to Cato's appearance.

[06:23] The "new law": a possible reference to Pope Boniface VIII's Jubilee Year of 1300.

[11:16] Dante, refreshment, and the origins of the doctrine of Purgatory.

[14:36] Casella's song, Dante's poetry, and the sheer relief of being human.

[24:18] A rereading of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto II, lines 106 - 117.

And here’s my English translation of Purgatorio, Canto II, Lines 106 - 117

So I [said]: “If a new law doesn’t take

From you the memory and practice of those love songs

That used to shush all my sorrows,

“May it please you to console my spirit a little

With one now. For it has dragged my body here

And I’m completely out of breath!”

“Love, that carries on a discourse with me in my mind,”

He began then so sweetly

That the sweetness still sounds inside me.

My master and I and these people

Who were around Casella seemed so content,

As if that song was the only thing could touch our minds.