Dante's on the verge of exploding with doubt. Marco of Lombardy's snark about the loss of valor in the bows of this world has done little more than leave the pilgrim in a theological puzzle: How did the world get so bad?

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore Dante's question to Marco before we turn to Marco's central discourse, the very middle of the great masterwork COMEDY.

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

[01:48] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, lines 52 - 63. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please scroll down this page.

[03:21] Dante's question assumes the values of chivalry.

[08:34] Can the redeemed instigate doubt?

[10:36] Dante ties Marco's snark back to Guido del Duca's nostalgia.

[13:19] COMEDY's new motivation is to bring back the answers.

[14:36] Dante's quandary is astrological, not truly theological (per se).

[17:00] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, lines 52 -63.

And here’s my English translation of Purgatorio, Canto XVI, Lines 52 – 63

I [said] to him, “By faith, I promise my allegiance

To do what you’ve asked. But I’m going to explode

From the inside out with doubt, if I can’t free myself from it.

“At first, it was a little niggle, but it has now doubled

With your pronouncements, which have made me certain

Of things I’ve joined with it from what another [soul] told me.

“The world is surely devoid

Of any sort of virtue, as you’ve told me.

It’s pregnant with and bears the fruits of malice.

“But I beg you to show me the reason why,

So that I may see it and show it to others,

For one guy sticks the blame in heaven and another, here on earth.”