Dante and Virgil have stepped onto the third terrace of Purgatory proper and our pilgrim is hit with an ecstatic vision. In fact, the first one in a poem that may itself seem like an ecstatic vision. And one of the few anywhere in COMEDY.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at the first vision on the third terrace of Purgatory, the opening salvo to the true middle of the great poem COMEDY.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:49] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, lines 85 - 93. If you'd like to read along to continue the conversation, please find this episode of my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:07] A vision of the Virgin Mary at the door, speaking in medieval Florentine.[06:14] The changes in the Biblical story of Mary's leaving the young Jesus behind in Jerusalem and returning to find him.[09:29] The importance of the possessive pronoun she uses: "my son."[11:52] The paradox with "ecstatic visions" in COMEDY.[16:16] The light of an ecstatic vision in transparent or empty space.[21:43] Two little boys in Canto XV: the sun in the sky and Jesus in Mary's eyes.

Dante the pilgrim has gotten one answer out of Virgil about the nature of abundance and scarcity in terms of heavenly good . . . but that answer was not apparently enough. So he goes back for more.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for this continuation of Virgil's lesson between the second and third terraces of Purgatory proper. As we leave the envious behind, Virgil offers us a lesson in the unending and multiplying faculty of love.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:41] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, lines 58 - 84. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:28] The food and agrarian imagery in the passage: desire and its satisfaction.[08:18] The light imagery in this passage: links back to the opening of Canto XV, as well as to Aquinas' SUMMA and Dante's own CONVIVIO.[14:58] Profit: the motive or idea of multiplicity has been in Canto XV all along.[16:31] Virgil: a character of Dante the poet's mouthpiece?[20:38] The plot returns (sort of) by a redefinition of the problem of pain.[24:28] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, lines 58 - 84.

Dante and Virgil encounter the awaited angel as they begin their ascent to the third terrace of Purgatory proper.They hear two snippets of song. They find the climb easier. And Dante asks Virgil to gloss two lines Guido del Duca said back in Canto XIV. All these things indicate the shifting the nature of COMEDY itself as we enter its middle cantos.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this passage about the climb to the third terrace and see the shifting nature of COMEDY's audience and purpose.If you'd like to help underwrite this podcast, whether as a one-time donation or a small on-going contribution, please visit this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:18] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, lines 34 - 57. If you'd like to read along or continue the converation with me, please find this specific episode on my website: markscarbrough.com.[03:31] An increasing emphasis on transitional figures and a more overt allegory in COMEDY as a whole.[08:15] Two bits of song: a fragment of a beatitude in Latin (from Matthew 5:7) and an exhortation in medieval Florentine.[12:07] The question who sings these two phrases.[15:13] The shifting dynamic in COMEDY to the correction, not of behavior, but of the mind.[18:44] Virgil's gloss on scarcity and abundance, as well as the civic threat of envy.[26:42] The problem of the audience for Guido's (and Virgil's!) speech.[30:45] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, lines 34 - 57.

Dante the poet is playing a very crafty game. He's been pulling out all the stops with two metaphors to help us understand the weight, meaning, and timing of the light . . . and then he redefines that source of light right underneath all those metaphors.And just as the poet pulls off that trick, Virgil also redefines the very terms on which PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, ended, as he undertakes a reassessment of "pleasure" or "delight."Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at this key passage in the on-going struggle to translate what seems into what is.If you'd like to help underwrite this podcast, please consider a one-time or even monthly donation using this PayPal link right here. Every bit helps with streaming, licensing, hosting, editing, royalty, and domain fees.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:27] My English translation of this short passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, lines 25 - 33. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[02:29] Virgil redefines "pleasure" or "delight," a word from the end of Canto XIV.[04:28] The passage also redefines the source (or refraction?) of the light.[07:22] Virgil remains the central redefinition in all of PURGATORIO.[08:24] A three-step structural notion of spiritual progress in PURGATORIO: "outside us," "inside us," and "above us."[14:00] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, lines 25 - 33.

Dante and Virgil pass on beyond the envious along the second terrace of Purgatory proper. As we enter the first of the middle three canti of all of COMEDY, Dante is blinded by the sun, about as we're blinded by his increasingly complex poetics.These passages begin the brilliant fun of the second half of the poem. Dante begins to play with meaning, poetics, and metaphor as never before, challenging us and pushing us into a spot of disorientation, all the while bringing us to a spot of revelation.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we see the sun as never before in the opening lines of PURGATORIO, Canto XV. Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:19] My English translation of this passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, lines 1 - 24. If you'd like to read along or to continue the conversation with me, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:37] PURGATORIO Canto XV is a liminal canto, existing between disorientation and revelation.[13:58] Two unique words in COMEDY in this opening passage (that is, two hapax legomena).[17:19] Telling time by the sun and playing around with it, as it plays around in the sky.[22:18] The sun and blindness at the opening and closing of our time on the terrace of the envious.[24:56] Medieval science that can reformulate the plot into poetic language.[28:30] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, lines 1 - 24.

Having been accosted by two voices decrying the fate of the envious on the second terrace of Purgatory proper, Dante and Virgil begin to walk toward a stairway to the third terrace. As they do, Virgil, silent for quite a while, refocuses and reinterprets most of what we've read in PURGATORIO, Cantos XIII and XIV. He offers circularity in place of the linear descent so described by Sapía and Guido del Duca.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we see Virgil come into his own in Purgatory.If you'd like to help underwrite the hosting, streaming, editing, and licensing fees associated with this podcast, please consider donating whatever you can by using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:33] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, lines 142 - 151. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:28] The bit, the rein, and the lure: in the passage at hand and in medieval iconography.[07:55] The question of what and how Virgil knows and can know the mechanics of Purgatory.[14:00] Refocusing the cantos of the envious.[16:52] Circularity inscribed into linearity.[21:51] Pain, redemption, and interpretation.[26:49] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, lines 142 - 151.

With Guido del Duca enmeshed in his tears, Dante the pilgrim and Virgil begin to talk on along the terrace of envy, searching for a way up to the third terrace of Purgatory.Lo and behold, they're struck by two voices, just as they were when they got up to this terrace. This time, it's Cain and Aglauros, speaking on the wind.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we begin to conclude our time with the envious and encounter a Biblical and a classical voice to warn us of the final dangers of envy.If you'd like to help support this podcast by underwriting its streaming, licensing, hosting, and domain fees, please consider donating whatever you can using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:23] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, lines 127 - 141. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please find the entry for this podcast episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[02:46] Silence, then the first departing voice from the terrace of the envious: Cain, after his fratricide and banishment.[09:35] The second departing voice from the terrace of envy: Aglauros, from Ovid's METAMORPHOSES.[15:37] Dante sidesteps toward Virgil, an unusual move.[17:49] Comparing and contrasting the four voices on the wind along the terrace of the envious.[21:07] Is nostalgia an appropriate response to social inequality and its prompting of envy?[24:58] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, lines 127 - 141.

Guido del Duca reaches the climax of his diatribe: a nostalgic retrospective of the courts and families of Romagna. Where have the good guys gone?Is this Dante the poet's lament? Or Guido del Duca's? Does this passage tell us more about Guido's problems or Dante's hopes?Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through a tough passage about historical figures from Romagna, many of whom have been lost to the historical record.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:42] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, lines 97 - 126. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment on this passage, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:49] The genre: "ubi sunt?" But whose? Guido del Duca's or Dante the poet's?[09:26] The structure of this passage: good people, to good families (without children), to bad town, to childless warlords.[14:47] The nostalgic diatribe becomes infernal.[16:59] More play with bestial and vegetal metaphors (as throughout Canto XIV).[19:19] The trap of chivalry.[22:28] Guido del Duca finally finds delight in his laments: the key problem.[25:28] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, lines 97 - 126.

At long last, the speaker in PURGATORIO Canto XIV comes clean and reveals who he is . . . and who his compatriot is. They're Guido del Duca and Rinier (or Rinieri) da Calboli. Now that we now who they are, we have to go back and reassess Canto XIV as a whole.Dante is nothing but cagey in the rhetorical games he's playing. He's demanding more and more out of his reader. And rightly so, given the complexity of COMEDY up to this point.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look through this passage in which these envious souls reveal who they are and we discover the underlying politics of the passage among the envious on the second terrace of Purgatory proper.If you'd like to help support this podcast by donating to cover its many fees, including streaming, hosting, and licensing, please consider giving whatever you can (even a small amount per month) via this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:15] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, Lines 73 - 96. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please do so under this episode on my website: markscarbrough.com.[04:22] Who is Guido del Duca, a Ghibelline warlord from Romagna?[06:40] Who is Rinier (or Rinieri) da Calboli, a Guelph warlord from Romagna?[09:08] Who is Fulcieri da Calboli, the bloody hunter previously mentioned?[11:13] Two questions for this passage: Is the political strife between these two healed . . . or being healed? And why are these warlords among the envious?[13:04] What details in this passage help us to understand its nuances?[21:21] When exactly does Dante's journey take place?[25:38] Rereading the scope of PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, from line 10 to line 96.

Dante has been cagey about where he's from, using periphrastic phrasing to describe the Arno valley without naming it.It was apparently the wrong thing to do . . . because one of the envious penitents is going to pick up the pilgrim's (and the poet's?) rhetorical games and push them much further into fully metaphoric space that is also somehow prophetic space, a diatribe against Tuscan corruption that borders on the incomprehensible at this moment before the speakers are named in Purgatorio XIV.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we play with truth and metaphor in the increasingly complex landscape of Purgatory.If you'd like to help you, please consider donating to support this podcast's many fees. You can do so at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:41] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, lines 43 - 72. If you'd like to read along or even continue the conversation about this passage, please see the page on my website for this episode at markscarbrough.com.[04:11] The standard interpretation of the allegory of the Arno valley.[08:59] One more level of complexity: the personification of the Arno.[11:02] A third level of complexity: so much periphrasis![12:32] A fourth level of complexity: a beast fable added to the rhetorical strategy (hello, Sapía!).[13:34] A fifth level of complexity: fraud, the end stop of the Arno and INFERNO.[15:06] A final level of complexity: The Old Man Of Crete in INFERNO XIV.[16:33] The interpretive or rhetorical muddle after the allegory of the Arno.[18:18] The bloody nephew's rampage: a metaphoric space.[26:56] The pay-off of intimacy?[29:52] Possible blasphemy in the high-level poetics.

Dante has started a conversation with two envious penitents . . . a conversation he might not be ready for. They prove more than his rhetorical match. They also muddy the theology of Purgatory itself. Is that intentional? Or are we expected to understand their still-fallen state?Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore more about the two envious souls who interrupt Dante's journey around the second terrace of Purgatory proper.Please consider helping this podcast stay sponsor-free. You can help me with its many fees by donating at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:23] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, lines 22 - 42. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please find the entry for this episode of the podcast on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:23] Dante's cagey periphrasis about the Arno may not have paid off.[07:00] The first envious penitent is bestialized as he fastens his teeth into the meat of Dante's intentions.[09:49] These penitent shades have lots of debt, even though one soul launches into a typical Dantean diatribe against Tuscany.[14:43] How can good things happen in a fallen world? Only by moving the fence.[16:55] Two inset tercets show the changing nature (or fence?) of COMEDY from a theological poem to an encyclopedic one.[21:59] This passage contains the third and final use in COMEDY of a word for "snake."[25:55] The problem with the diatribe is that is seems to remove culpability from humans . . . or at least, Tuscans.[28:55] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, lines 22 - 42.

Sapía has finished her amazingly complex speech with the pilgrim Dante . . . or has she? At the opening of Canto XIV, we're not sure who is speaking? Still Sapía? No, two envious souls, leaning against each other, almost gossiping about our pilgrim. And nothing satisfies envy quite like gossip.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this new thing: the opening of a canto in COMEDY in which unnamed (and unknowable!) souls just starting talking out of the blue. Be on guard. They may not be all they seem at first blush.Please consider supporting this podcast through your contribution. There are many fees associated with this work . . . and I'd like to keep it sponsor-free. You can help you with a donation at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:34] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, lines 1 - 21. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation about this passage, please find this individual episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:31] Two penitent souls interrupt the action of PURGATORIO.[06:00] The opening of canto XIV is a new thing in COMEDY, much as Sapía has identified Dante the pilgrim as a new thing in her world.[08:19] There are two curious words in this opening dialogue: "our" and "sweetly."[11:45] These two spirits are apparently quite intimate with each other. Will that intimacy pay off?[12:50] One of the envious penitents divides Dante's soul from his body . . . and uses Dante's own words to address him.[15:41] Dante is quite cagey when he answers their question, all the while putting his soul and body back together.[20:16] Dante replies with one of his own favorite rhetorical techniques: periphrasis. Elsewhere in COMEDY, Dante is pretty forthcoming about his origins.[22:53] Is Dante modest? Or cagey? Or "just" truthful?[28:41] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, lines 1 - 21.

We've spent three episodes with this penitent envious soul, Sapía. Now let's look at the entire interchange between her and our pilgrim, Dante . . . as well as the ways PURGATORIO, Canto XIII, reflects INFERNO, Canto XIII.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we talk about the increasingly complex ironies found in one of the most compelling souls in all of Dante's COMEDY.If you'd like to help support this podcast by underwriting some of its streaming, licensing, hosting, domain, and royalty fees, please do so at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:23] Reading the entire passage with Sapia: PURGATORIO, Canto XIII, lines 85 - 154.[05:58] If they're playing a rhetorical game, Dante the pilgrim started it.[06:54] The structure of their exchange: his flattery--her truth (sort of)--his truth (sort of)--her request.[09:23] The envious are hard to pick out from their landscape. Is that a thematic or even rhetorical problem?[10:20] Sapía's discourse is either textured with irony or incredibly uneven. Why?[12:17] PURGATORIO XIII has many parallels with INFERNO XIII.[17:10] Moments in Sapía's passage to keep in mind for PURGATORIO XIV ahead.

In the concluding moments of Sapía's speech, we find her in dialogue with Dante the pilgrim . . . who is both forthcoming in his confessional stance and also cagey with his hiding his guide, Virgil.She, too, is caught in her own rhetoric: getting what she wants but ultimately revealing herself as a soul who still has a lot more purgation ahead.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the final words of one of the most intriguing characters in PURGATORIO, if not in all of COMEDY.Please consider donating to support this podcast and cover its hosting, editing, licensing, streaming, domain, and royalty fees. You can do so at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[00:58] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIII, lines 133 - 154. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please find the comment section for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:18] Dante's reply to Sapía is both cagey and confessional. Did she manipulate him into this ambiguous spot?[09:27] Does Sapía misunderstand his place in the afterlife? But how can she, since she's already figured out that he's breathing?[13:03] She turns his confession of pride into . . . comedy or flattery?[14:12] Her changing notions of prayer exemplify the theological problems of prayer as a Christian act. Meanwhile, she lets the pilgrim know that she's figured him out even more.[19:36] Sapía is going to spend a lot more time on the terrace of the envious, given her joy over Siena's misfortunes.[24:59] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIII, lines 133 - 154.

Sapía now tells her story to Dante the pilgrim . . . and it includes one of the most blasphemous lines in all of COMEDY.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look closely at one of the most honest and blasphemous monologues in the poem . . . and as we grapple with Sapía's incredible skills in rhetoric.If you'd like to make a contribution to support this podcast and help me cover its many fees, you can do so at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:39] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIII, lines 112 - 132. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or continue the conversation with me, please go to my website: markscarbrough.com.[03:56] Indicators of Sapía's interiority.[07:48] Her reaction to the Sienese battle of 17 June 1269.[10:40] Sapía's right attitude toward God's will.[12:41] One of the most blasphemous lines in all of COMEDY.[14:54] Lighthearted folkloric storytelling amid her shocking honesty.[18:48] The holy man who saves her: Peter Comb-Seller (or "Pettinaio").[22:09] Honesty or manipulation?[23:22] The logic of her monologue.[25:13] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIII, lines 112 - 132.

Dante the pilgrim worked up the courage (or the flattery) to get one of the envious to speak up on the second terrace of Purgatory proper. She does . . . and gives him both more and exactly what (or perhaps a bit less) than he asked for.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I work our first sight of one of the most intricate souls in COMEDY: Sapía. She's a lot more than Dante bargained for.Donate what you can or a small monthly contribution to help me cover the many fees associated with this podcast. You can do so by clicking this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:18] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIII, lines 94 - 111. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please go to the page about this podcast on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:02] The penitent envious soul schools Dante the pilgrim by reassessing their relationship, both by family and by politics.[05:53] Pilgrims choose to be other, to be strangers in a foreign land.[09:19] Dante the poet focuses on the naturalistic details in an otherwise hyper-moral passage.[11:35] Dante the pilgrim is apparently not teachable at the moment . . . . except he does understand the work of the will in Purgatory.[14:30] The penitent soul identifies herself reticently . . . only by name and city.[19:38] Her reticence is found in a generous canto full of explanations.[20:55] One generosity: Sapía offers a succinct definition of envy.[24:49] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIII, lines 94 - 111.

Dante has finally come among the envious on the bare, bleak, blue-gray second terrace of Mount Purgatory. We've seen their condition: eyes stitched shut. Now for Dante's reaction. And Virgil's reaction to Dante's reaction. And Dante's ham-handed attempt to flatter someone to speak up.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we approach on of the most significant and curious figures in all of COMEDY. Dante the pilgrim will call for her in this passage . . . and she'll make her appearance in the next passage/episode.If you'd like to help support this podcast, please consider donating to cover the licensing, hosting, streaming, domain, and royalty fees by visiting this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:57] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIII, Lines 73 - 93. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment to continue the conversation, please go to my website: markscarbrough.com.[04:05] Does Dante think he makes a social gaffe?[07:40] Is Virgil irritated at Dante's reaction?[09:48] Is this an allegorical passage or a naturalistic one? Are we being played?[14:45] Is Dante's flattery misplaced?[19:19] Is Dante's flattery predictive of the poem ahead?[22:41] How much irony textures this passage?[25:28] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIII, lines 73 - 93.

The second terrace of PURGATORIO proves a wild ride into interiority, into the complicated sin of envy, and back into INFERNO.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the first moments in which Dante sees the penitents ahead . . . and delays until the last moment revealing their fate: eyelids stitched shut with wires.Thank you for supporting this podcast through your donations. If you'd like to help our (or continue to help out) with all the fees associated with websites, hosting, streaming, editing, and sound effects, please visit this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[00:55] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIII, lines 46 - 72. If you'd like to read along or continue the discussion with me, please go to my website: markscarbrough.com.[03:28] Dante the pilgrim, the livid shades of the envious, and fragmentary prayers in the vernacular.[05:52] Compassion: apparently a virtue of enforced scarcity.[07:51] Envy, interiority, and externality.[09:42] The tried-and-true answers to envy: love, yes; but also uniformity.[13:25] The long wind-up to the revelation of the penitents' pain.[17:30] Dante's (false) etymology of envy and a folkloric explanation of the sin.[21:51] Two callbacks: 1) Provenzan Salvani and 2) the allegorical and/or naturalistic sun.[23:51] The biggest callback of all: to Pier della Vigna and Frederick II in INFERNO XIII.[25:21] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIII, lines 46 - 72.

Dante and Virgil make haste across the second terrace of Purgatory before they're accosted by disembodied voices, calling them to the banquet of love.Sounds great, right? Except there's so much alienation in the landscape and even in the poetry.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we take our first steps onto the second terrace of PURGATORIO with Dante and Virgil.Please consider helping to support this podcast with a donation to cover all the various fees associated with streaming, licensing, recording, editing, and hosting. You can do so at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:19] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIII, lines 22 - 45. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please visit my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:54] Three disembodied voices on the second terrace of PURGATORIO: quotes from the Virgin Mary, Orestes (maybe?), and Jesus.[13:25] Voices moving from the left, not right![15:26] Envy: a root sin, sometimes seen as the primary sin, even by Dante.[18:59] The schematics of Purgatory, as intuited by Virgil.[22:03] Disembodied voices and the problem of alienation.[26:28] The distance (and alienation) between Dante and Virgil.[32:36] A rereading of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIII, lines 22 - 45.

Dante the pilgrim and his guide, Virgil, have arrived at the second terrace of Purgatory proper. As readers, we're not even sure what this terrace is about, although we can infer there must be more penitents ahead.Instead, Dante the poet offers us rather straightforward, naturalistic details, a complex neologism (a new word he coined), a crazy line that has many interpretations possible, and then a pagan prayer in the afterlife of the redeemed.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we walk into the second terrace and immediately stumble over what at first glance looks like a fairly simple passage. That's why we're slow-walking across Dante's known universe!If you'd like to help support this podcast by donating to cover hosting, streaming, website, licensing, and royalty fees, please consider visiting this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:09] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XIII, lines 1- 21. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:22] The naturalistic, straightforward details complete with a surprising neologism (or newly coined word).[08:12] A deeply ambiguous line smack in the middle of rather simple details.[12:02] Virgil's haste and his internalization of Cato's ethic, as well as Dante's increasingly complicated relationship with the old poet.[15:29] Virgil's pagan prayer to the sun.[23:40] My take: Virgil, the pagan, makes a full appearance here on the second terrace of Purgatory.[29:02] Virgil, blinded.[31:42] A rereading of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIII, lines 1 - 21.