Dante the pilgrim has asked the angry Marco of Lombardy the cause of the world's ills. Marco responds with both exasperation and affection before turning to the root of the matter: The cause is in all of you.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at this central passage in COMEDY, a grand statement of the Christian paradox of free will.

If you'd like to help underwrite this podcast through a one-time donation or via a small monthly stipend, please consider doing so at this PayPal link right here. 

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

[01:49] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, lines 64 - 84. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please scroll down this page.

[04:15] A justification for how this episode works.

[06:00] The conflation of anger and affection in the texture of the passage.

[08:49] Marco's teamwork with Guido del Duca, back among the envious.

[10:02] Human feelings as the proof for free will.

[13:27] One impetus to behavior (the zodiac signs) with two initial gifts (light and free will).

[15:22] Two outs for free will: the battles against those astrological signs and proper nourishment. (But not Satan or the demons!)

[19:48] Free will and God's control: the breadth of Dante's pasture.

[28:03] The cause of evil: humans. The truth of God: transcendence.

[31:17] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, lines 64 - 84.

And here’s my English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, Lines 64 – 84

He sighed deeply. At first, it wrung

An “Oh my!” out of him. Then he began, “Brother,

The world is blind. And for sure, you come from it.

 

“You guys who are alive keep on assigning every cause

Solely to the heavens, as if they moved

Everything along with them out of necessity.

 

“If that were the case, your own free will would have been

Destroyed. At that point, it wouldn’t be right to experience

Happiness for [doing] good or grief for [doing] bad.

 

“The heavens are your initial motivator.

I’m not talking about their full scope. But even if I were,

You’ve been given a light for the good and the bad.

 

“And [you’ve been given] free will. If it doesn’t get worn out

In its first battles against the heavens,

And if it’s properly nourished, it will conquer everything.

 

“You, while free, are the subjects of a greater power

And a better nature. These create

A mind in you that is not in the control of the heavens.

 

“That’s why, if the world falls into disarray,

The cause is in you all. Let it be discovered in you all.

I will now become your truth-filled informant about all this.”