Virgil Inscribes Circularity Into Linearity: PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, Lines 142 - 151

Walking With Dante

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.

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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 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.