Beatrice — Walking With Dante Across His Known Universe

PURGATORIO, Episode 149. The Siren, The Speedy Lady, And Virgil: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, Lines 16 - 33

Dante’s dream continues with the ugly woman turned beautiful . . . and then into a siren. She sings a song about Ulysses (a song that gets his story wrong but brings him back into COMEDY) before a holy speedy lady descends to request Virgil’s aid in (once again) saving Dante the pilgrim.

Mark ScarbroughFebruary 19, 2025Purgatorio XIX, Purgatorio, Purgatory, Dreams, The terrace of sloth, Lucy, Beatrice, BoethiusComment

PURGATORIO, Episode 146. Fear, New Thoughts, And Dreams: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, Lines 130 - 145

As the zealous slothful run on, two more come in the rear, biting the penitents with warnings about sloth. After they’re gone, the pilgrim can finally get some rest. He has a new thought—curiously undefined—which leads him into his second dream in PURGATORIO.

Mark ScarbroughDecember 15, 2024Purgatorio XVIII, Purgatorio, The terrace of sloth, BeatriceComment

PURGATORIO, Episode 117. Hunger, Light, Love, And The Theology Of Abundance: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, Lines 58 - 84

Dante has heard Virgil’s explanation of the good becoming more, the more it’s shared (at least in heaven); yet Dante is not satisfied. So the pilgrim goes back for a second helping in this passage that continues Virgil’s lesson, turning the “good” into love and light, a move that will set us up for the grand revelations in the central cantos of COMEDY.