Marco of Lombardy's time in COMEDY comes to an end with a chatty back-and-forth between him and the pilgrim Dante. Dante wants to compliment Marco on creating such a great argument (the one, that is, that Dante the poet created!) but Marco's only answer seems to be irritation and an abrupt dismissal.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for a fascinating deep dive into the end of PURGATORIO, Canto XVI.

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

[01:33] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, Lines 130 - 145. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, just scroll down this page.

[03:10] The pilgrim Dante disallows land holdings for the papacy, based on Marco's reasoning.

[05:45] PURGATORIO, Canto XVI returns to Torah at its end, offering the argument deep, long-standing ballast.

[08:00] Gaia, Gherardo's daughter, has long been a troubling figure in commentary.

[10:45] What does this conversational coda to Marco's disquisition on free will do for the poem COMEDY as a whole?

[13:23] Why do the penitents work through anger in a lightless smoke?

[16:14] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, lines 130 - 145.

And here’s my English translation of Purgatorio, Canto XVI, Lines 130 – 145

“O, my Marco,” I said, “you offer a good rationale!

And now I discern why the sons of Levi

Were left out of any inheritance.

“But who is Gherardo, who, according to you,

Remains here from among the departed people

As a reproach to this wild age?”

“Either what you say deceives me or it’s testing me,”

He replied to me. “If you speak Tuscan,

How have you heard nothing about the good Gherardo?

“I don’t know him by any other family name,

Unless I were to get it through his daughter, Gaia.

May God be with you, for I can go no farther.

“You see the brightness gleaming white through

The smoke. (The angel is right up there.)

Therefore, I must leave you before I become known to him.”

With that, he turned around and heard nothing more from me.