Hugh Capet continues the story of his family, bringing the saga of the French (or Frankish) crown into Dante's day with three of Hugh's most infamous descendants . . . at least as far as the poet is concerned. Our pilgrim gets treated to a grim recital of French misdeeds. And we catch our first whiff of antisemitism in COMEDY, just at the moment the actual French monarchy is expelling the Jews from French territory. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this tough middle passage in Hugh Capet'...
Mar 30, 2025•36 min•Season 2Ep. 160
The pilgrim has been attracted by one soul, calling out his examples of Mary, Fabricius, and Nicholas to counter his own sins of avarice. Dante steps closer and inquires who this soul is. He finds himself in front of Hugh Capet, the legendary (and historical) founder of the Capetian dynasty of French kings. Or at least a version of said Hugh Capet, since Dante the poet flubs the historicity of his penitent. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this fascinating look at the second major figure ...
Mar 26, 2025•35 min•Season 2Ep. 159
Dante has gone beyond Pope Adrian V but hasn't left the fifth terrace of Purgatory. He and Virgil pick their way among the many shades until the pilgrim hears one shade call out three examples that entice the pilgrim to find this penitent. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through this passage on the terrace of the avaricious that will eventually lead us to our surprising second greedy soul ahead. Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE: [01:15] My English translation of ...
Mar 23, 2025•24 min•Season 2Ep. 158
Pope Adrian V has pushed the pilgrim Dante to move on . . . even though the pilgrim doesn't want to. He and Virgil pick their way through the crowded fifth terrace of Purgatory. The avaricious are so many that the poet has to step out and offer a prophetic denunciation among the wreckage. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we edge our way toward the second penitent on this crowded terrace of PURGATORIO. Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE: [01:32] My English translation of the...
Mar 19, 2025•24 min•Season 2Ep. 157
Pope Adrian V concludes his discourse on the fifth terrace of Mount Purgatory on a strangely lonely, alienated note. Perhaps this is what avarice does to a person. Or perhaps this is what exile has done to Dante. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through the end of PURGATORIO XIX and Pope Adrian's speech on the terrace of the avaricious. We end at a melacholy spot for one of the redeemed. Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE: [01:39] My English translation of the passag...
Mar 16, 2025•24 min•Season 2Ep. 156
Pope Adrian V, bound hands and feet to the ground, sets out to answer the pilgrim Dante's second question: What's going on here? In doing so, the pope unwittingly gives one of the most misunderstood lines in PURGATORIO. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore more of this conversation with the first (and only) pope we meet on Mount Purgatory. Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE: [01:52] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 115 - 124. If you...
Mar 12, 2025•18 min•Season 2Ep. 155
Dante the pilgrim has asked Virgil--at least with a look in the eyes--if he could speak to one of the avaricious penitents, lying face down on the ground. On Virgil's okay, the pilgrim walks up to Pope Adrian IV . . . or at least so Dante the poet thinks. Sources vary. And interpretations, too. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through the interpretive and historical knots we face on meeting our first pope since INFERNO. If you'd like to help cover the costs of this podcast, consider donating...
Mar 09, 2025•30 min•Season 2Ep. 154
Dante and Virgil now walk along the fifth terrace of Purgatory, looking at the souls who are face down, stuck to the ground, unable to move or turn over. One of them answers Virgil about the way up . . . and the pilgrim Dante wants to stop for a conversation. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for a look at this transitional passage in PURGATORIO as we step up to meet the first of three souls on the fifth terrace of Mount Purgatory. Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE: [01:31] My...
Mar 05, 2025•25 min•Season 2Ep. 153
Dante the pilgrim has had a "P" wiped off his forehead by the angel at the stairs. He's started his climb to the next terrace. All seems well, but he's still sad, bent over with worry, troubled about his dream. Virgil again comes to the rescue. He reinterprets the dream for the pilgrim (leaving us with quite a few questions!) and commands the pilgrim to direct his eyes up to the heavens, the ultimate lure to God. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at this passage that brings us to the cusp of ...
Mar 02, 2025•27 min•Season 2Ep. 152
Awakened from his dream by a foul odor, Dante the pilgrim finds himself fully out of tune with his surroundings: a bright new day on the mountain of Purgatory, beautiful sunshine at his back, and an angel whose feathers fan him on to the next terrace. He's even promised the curious "ladies of consolation" as a salve for his mourning. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at a difficult passage in PURGATORIO, the journey from the fourth terrace of sloth to the fifth terrace up the mountain ahead o...
Feb 26, 2025•29 min•Season 2Ep. 151
We've had two dreams in PURGATORIO, one at Canto IX and one at Canto XIX (although it actually started in the last line of Canto XVIII). Let's take a moment to compare and contrast these two dreams. What can they tell us about the changing nature of PURGATORIO, especially given my thesis that this is a poem in process, one in which the poet is learning how to write the poem as he moves forward? Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE: [01:21] A reading of the first two dream...
Feb 23, 2025•21 min•Season 2Ep. 150
Here's the second episode on the pilgrim's second dream in PURGATORIO. Things get wilder after the ugly lady becomes beautiful under the pilgrim Dante's gaze. She begins to sing. She identifies herself as a siren. She mentions Ulysses (incorrectly?). Another lady appears and begs Virgil for help. And Virgil saves Dante (yet again). Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we parse this passage about the workings of poetry and perhaps COMEDY as a whole. Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH ...
Feb 19, 2025•31 min•Season 2Ep. 149
Our pilgrim has fallen asleep on the edge of the fourth terrace of Mount Purgatory. He's seen the racing slothful but night has gotten the better of him . . . so he begins to dream. That dream is all about desire and the male gaze. It's also about poetic space and dream space . . . and the porous nature between the two. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we start the first of two episodes on the second dream of PURGATORIO. Here are the segments for this episode of the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE: [01:5...
Feb 16, 2025•27 min•Season 2Ep. 148
We've climbed up to the fifth terrace of Purgatory proper and come among the avaricious. These three cantos become increasingly complex and daring: in their theology, in their poetics, and in their myth-making. They're extraordinarily rich. Gilded, even. Which somehow fits, since these are the cantos in which the greedy purge their sin. And we've got three incredible monologues: from a late-to-repent pope, one of the founders of the French monarchy, and Statius, the great Roman poet whose THEBIA...
Dec 18, 2024•28 min•Season 2Ep. 147
The zealous slothful have run on, although there are still two coming in the rear, "biting" the penitents from behind with warnings about sloth. After that, the pilgrim Dante has a new thought--curiously undefined--which leads him into his second dream in PURGATORIO. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we finish off Canto XVIII and leave our pilgrim to his slumbers. Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE: [01:30] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, line...
Dec 15, 2024•20 min•Season 2Ep. 146
At last, the slothful penitents arrive. They're a roiling horde in a crazy rush, whipped around the terrace to make up for the ways they were negligent in life. As these frantic souls pass by, one of them speaks a brave truth about Dante the poet's primary patron, a fierce warlord who has sheltered the poet on the run but whose family may not be all they're cracked up to be. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through this amazing passage of PURGATORIO, a plea to not hesitate when it comes to s...
Dec 11, 2024•27 min•Season 2Ep. 145
Our pilgrim has found himself in the dark of night, a time where he loses all effort on Mount Purgatory. But don't get too sleepy, Dante. You can get run over by the slothful, all at a full gallop in a Bacchic frenzy. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we return to the plot after Virgil's discourses on love, here on the fourth terrace of Mount Purgatory. If you'd like to help underwrite the many fees associated with this podcast, please consider donating a small monthly stipend or a one-time gift at t...
Dec 08, 2024•27 min•Season 2Ep. 144
Virgil offers his third discourse on love at the middle of PURGATORIO to 1) show his work about ethics derived from Aristotle's notions of substance and cause and 2) to make sure the pilgrim understands that his actions are his own fault. This is a complicated passage with lots of historical resonances, particularly from Aristotle and Plato (as understood through Aquinas). It'll take us some work to unpack it, but we'll get very close to our modern understanding of ethics. Join me, Mark Scarbrou...
Dec 04, 2024•39 min•Season 2Ep. 143
Virgil has finished his second, clarifying discourse on love, but it hasn't done the trick. The pilgrim Dante is even more full of doubts . . . pregnant with them, in fact. Let's look at the pilgrim's second question to Virgil's discourse on love and talk about the complex ways Beatrice and even physical desire operate in the poem. I'm Mark Scarbrough. Thanks for coming on the journey with me. If you'd like to help underwrite the many fees associated with this podcast, you can do so at this PayP...
Dec 01, 2024•21 min•Season 2Ep. 142
In answer to the pilgrim's request that Virgil show his work on the nature of love, Virgil (and the poet Dante behind him) condense and recast the very bases of the thinking in Western culture: Aristotle's notion that the objective world creates a mental picture that forms the basis of any action. This passage is one of the most complex in PURGATORIO. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we take apart its claims and some of the translation problems both from the poetry's concision and the seismic change...
Nov 27, 2024•32 min•Season 2Ep. 141
Virgil seemed to have come to a resting place in his monumental discourse on love: "Here's all I know . . . and all I don't know." But the pilgrim is less than satisfied. He wants Virgil to continue on, to show his work for these complex syllogisms. And Dante the poet is not done with Virgil either, given the mirrored structure of cantos XVII and XVIII. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we move beyond the mid-point of COMEDY and our pilgrim asks for more about how love is the seed of all human action...
Nov 24, 2024•24 min•Season 2Ep. 140
We've come to the middle of PURGATORIO . . . and indeed the middle of COMEDY as a whole. Let's take a breather and review where we've been in Purgatory since our very slow approach sometimes (or often?) causes us to privilege the trees over the forest. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I walk you through the first half of PURGATORIO one more time, mostly to remind you where we've been, but also to make sure we all understand the majestic, imaginative sweep of this canticle so far (and this poem so fa...
Nov 20, 2024•34 min•Season 2Ep. 139
We come to the end of Virgil's (first) discourse on love, as well as the end of the central canto of PURGATORIO. But it's a strange end since Virgil admits to what he doesn't know. Having been so certain about how human behavior operates, he concludes by telling Dante the pilgrim he's on his own to find out further answers. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we conclude Virgil's astoundingly certain discourse on love with an ironic, ambiguous moment. Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING W...
Nov 17, 2024•21 min•Season 2Ep. 138
Virgil continues his discourse about love, the central discourse in all of COMEDY. It's a tour de force of scholastic reasoning . . . that may leave something to be desired after INFERNO. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore Virgil's scholastic understanding of all human action and his vision of love as the seed of all that we do. Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE: [01:42] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 106 - 126. If you'd like ...
Nov 13, 2024•29 min•Season 2Ep. 137
Love is the seed … of all you do. It's news to me, given the state of the world. But not to Virgil. And certainly not to Dante's COMEDY. Virgil's explosive claim about love lies at the center of the poem: We do right and we go wrong because of the seed of love. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at the beginning of Virgil's central discourse in COMEDY, an overwhelming statement about human motivation and the nature of God. If you'd like to help underwrite the many costs of this podcast, please...
Nov 10, 2024•33 min•Season 2Ep. 136
Welcome to the fourth terrace of Purgatory proper! Dante and Virgil reach the top of the stairs just as night falls and the pilgim loses all possibility of forward momentum. He hesitates--from sloth?--and turns to Virgil--still damned!--to explain where they are. Virgil, the guide of Purgatory. It's still as shocking as it was sixteen cantos ago! Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we stop at the cusp of the fourth terrace of Purgatory proper. Would you like to help underwrite the many costs of this po...
Nov 06, 2024•23 min•Season 2Ep. 135
We're ready to get to the fourth terrace of Purgatory proper--that is, the terrace where sloth is purged. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for a read-through of this terrace, starting at Canto XVII, Line 73 (or back three lines perhaps for a running start) through the end of Canto XVIII (at Line 145). We'll hear Virgil's great discourse on love as well as Dante's encounter with the racing slothful. Would you like to help underwrite the costs of this podcast? You can do so at this PayPal link right here...
Nov 03, 2024•17 min•Season 2Ep. 134
Dante the poet is having great fun with light. He's playing with its various meanings: illumination, revelation, sunrise, sunset, concealment, power--all this as we approach the middle of PURGATORIO and even find ourselves in the middle of COMEDY as a whole. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore these last moments on Purgatory's terrace of the wrathful before we find ourselves again among the stars. If you'd like to help with the many fees associated with this podcast, you can offer a small, m...
Sep 25, 2024•20 min•Season 2Ep. 133
As Dante the pilgrim gets ready to leave the third terrace of Purgatory, the terrace of the angry, he has three ecstatic visions that warn about the dangers of excessive wrath. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at these visions and try to come to terms with the problem that Dante's rage may sit at the very center of COMEDY. If you'd like to help underwrite the many fees for this podcast, please consider donating a very small monthly stipend or a one-time gift using this PayPal link right here...
Sep 22, 2024•32 min•Season 2Ep. 132
Dante the pilgrim leaves Marco of Lombardy behind, but Dante the poet is not yet done with fundamental questions for his poem--particularly, how does he know what he knows? The answer lies in the imagination, the shaky ground that Dante posits is the basis of revelation. If you'd like to help underwrite the fees for this podcast, please consider donating a small monthly stipend or a one-time gift using this PayPal link right here . Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE: [0...
Sep 08, 2024•23 min•Season 2Ep. 131
