Walking With Dante

As Beatrice and Dante continue to walk through Eden, she begins the final discourse that will end PURGATORIO: a cryptic, apocalyptic vision of the world (or maybe just the church?) set right. But by whom? Or when? And is the church destroyed? Or is it going to be rehabilitated?
Beatrice's vision is the capstone of PURGATORIO and prepares us for the elliptical and stylized poetry to come in PARADISO, just ahead of us. It's a test to see whether we can make it. Don't worry: We will!
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we begin our final walk across one of the most difficult passages in PURGATORIO. Seven hundred years of commentary hasn't come to any agreement on these lines. Why should we?
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Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:43] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 25 - 45. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me by a comment on this episode, please find it on my website: markscarbrough.com.
[04:18] A reminder: the rigid and highly stylized manner code in the Middle Ages.
[08:46] Beatrice's redefinition of the terms: wakefulness rather than walking, the chariot as a vessel, the dragon as a serpent (from Eden?), and the chariot's possible, full destruction.
[14:18] A translation problem: the possible sop of bread. And difficult interpretations: God's vendetta and a future heir.
[18:30] Seven hundred years of commentary on the tough problem of "five hundred ten and five--God's messenger."
[27:42] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, lines 25 - 45.

From tragedy to comedy, the apocalyptic vision in Canto XXXII has come to an end and Beatrice accepts Dante as her walking companion in Eden.
A relatively easy passage begins the final canto of PURGATORIO, perhaps a breather before the much more difficult material that will make up the bulk of the last canto of PURGATORIO.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we walk with Beatrice, Dante, the seven ladies, the lady who tends Eden, and Statius. They're a final parade to wrap up this second canticle of COMEDY.
Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:26] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 1 - 24. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.
[03:31] Possibly, a simple interlude between much more difficult passages.
[04:58] The Latin quotation from Psalm 78/79 that opens the final canto of PURGATORIO.
[09:19] Beatrice's Latin quotation from the Gospel of John as Dante fuses Mary and Jesus into her character.
[16:46] Beatrice's parade and the question of her nine steps.
[21:53] Beatrice, Dante's new guide across the known universe.
[26:51] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, lines 1- 24.

In the last episode, we talked through some of the "superficial" factors in the grand apocalyptic vision in Eden: its structure, some diction cues, even a few rifts or cracks in its flow.
In this episode, let's turn to the much thornier issue of what it all means. A consensus has developed over the seven hundred years of commentary. That reading (or interpretation) now dominates the Anglo-American, rationalist outlooks on the vision.
But might there be more? And might that reading be prone to mistakes or gaffes it cannot accommodate?
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for the second of two episodes on the complicated vision of the apocalypse that ends PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII.
To support this work, consider underwriting its many fees with a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend. You can do so at this PayPal link right here.
Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:38] Once again, my English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, lines 109 - 160. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.
[05:28] The now-standard interpretation of the vision as a sweet of Christian church history up until Dante's day and the so-called "Avignon captivity" of the papacy.
[13:10] Questions and problems that arise in the standard interpretation. These may show us that the vision is more layered than a rationalist interpretation would consider.
[16:28] Two external sources that may impinge on this vision: the prophecy of Daniel 7:7 and the visionary writings of the Radical Franciscans.
[19:27] My reading of the vision as the collapse of good governance following the departure of the proper balance of church and state.
[21:47] Two final questions: 1) Does Dante cause the collapse of the vision? And 2) should the vision be interpreted in such a rational, one-for-one way?

Dante is now ready for the final apocalyptic vision of PURGATORIO . . . and in the last place we might expect it: in that bastion of innocence and purity, the Garden of Eden.
In seven vignettes, Dante witnesses some chaotic and catastrophic collapse of the chariot and even one of the original trees of Eden.
But all is not lost. Beatrice is on the scene. And Dante himself participates in this vision, seemingly instigating a new ending to what had become a disaster.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for the first of two episodes on the grand apocalypse of Eden in PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII.
To support this work, please consider a small monthly stipend or a one-time gift to help cover the many fees associated with this podcast. You can donate at this PayPal link right here.
Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:37] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 109 - 180. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.
[05:28] Thoughts on the almost surreal strangeness of the vision as it moves from the natural world to the monstrous.
[08:59] The structure of the vision: seven vignettes--five in six-line segments; the first and last scenes, longer.
[18:34] Echoes in the vision to other moments in COMEDY: eagles, a vixen, dragons, a prostitute, and giants.
[23:12] Biblical echoes from the Apocalypse of St. John at the end of Dante's vision.
[25:03] Two outside actors who enter the vision and fundamentally change it.

Before we continue with Beatrice (and even the young woman who tends the Garden of Eden), let's stop and talk all too briefly about the roles and available places for women in Dante's day, the high middle ages.
Although we can't hope to cover this subject in depth, we might be able to see some of its reflections in COMEDY so far, as well as in the complex and even contradictory characterization of Beatrice in COMEDY.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we take an all too quick side quest into the question of women in the high middle ages.
To help support this podcast by underwriting its many fees, please consider a small monthly stipend or a one-time donation using this PayPal link right here.
Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:40] The largest grouping of women in COMEDY does not bode well for Dante . . . except a women who lies ahead of us.
[06:01] The various roles and positions women could hold in the middle ages, at least according to a tract/book written in Dante's lifetime.
[09:48] The damning problem: Women cannot be citizens.
[13:31] The church's role in the growing restrictions on women . . . and the ways they subverted those religious restrictions.
[17:50] Beatrice's role v. the Virgin's growing veneration.