PURGATORIO, Episode 113. Virgil Inscribes Circularity Into Linearity: PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, Lines 142 - 151

Having been accosted by two voices decrying the fate of the envious on the second terrace of Purgatory proper, Dante and Virgil begin to walk toward a stairway to the third terrace. As they do, Virgil, silent for quite a while, refocuses and reinterprets most of what we've read in PURGATORIO, Cantos XIII and XIV. He offers circularity in place of the linear descent so described by Sapía and Guido del Duca.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we see Virgil come into his own in Purgatory.

If you'd like to help underwrite the hosting, streaming, editing, and licensing fees associated with this podcast, please consider donating whatever you can by using this PayPal link right here.

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

[01:33] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, lines 142 - 151. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please scroll down this page.

[03:28] The bit, the rein, and the lure: in the passage at hand and in medieval iconography.

[07:55] The question of what and how Virgil knows and can know the mechanics of Purgatory.

[14:00] Refocusing the cantos of the envious.

[16:52] Circularity inscribed into linearity.

[21:51] Pain, redemption, and interpretation.

[26:49] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, lines 142 - 151.

And here’s my English translation of Purgatorio, Canto XIV, Lines 142 – 151

At that point, the air was now quiet all around us.

And [Virgil] said to me, “That was a hard bit—

It should keep people in the their groove.

“But you all take the bait so that the old adversary’s

Hook yanks you to him.

That’s why the rein and the lure do you little good.

“The heavens call out and turn around you,

Showing off their eternal beauties,

Yet your eyes are locked to the earth.

That’s why the one who discerns all smites you.”