Beatrice finishes her first indictment of Dante by showing him the fit subject matter for his abundant talent: her and the damned.

She accuses him of chasing after false images, then of discounting her own inspiration in dreams. She ends with her final hope: to descend to the doorway of the dead and get the pilgrim started across the known universe.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the final lines of PURGATORIO, Canto XXX: Beatrice's first indictment of Dante.

Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:25] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 127 - 145. If you'd like to read along or continue the discussion with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:16] In praise of Beatrice's elevated rhetoric.

[05:20] The erotic tension between Beatrice and Dante.

[07:59] First callback in the passage: to either the Siren in PURGATORIO XIX or to the second woman in the VITA NUOVA.

[10:22] Second callback: to either Beatrice's eyes or her appearance in a dream toward the end of the VITA NUOVA.

[13:43] Third callback: to Limbo (and Virgil).

[15:37] Dante's search for the subject matter that will fit his talent.

[16:47] Four levels of interpretation for Beatrice's first indictment: literal, moral, allegorical, and anagogical.

[21:31] When was Dante supposed to purse these failings on the mountain?

[23:27] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, lines 127 - 145.

Beatrice is now fully in charge . . . so much so that she can even tell the angels in the chariot with her what they can't understand.

She launches into her first indictment of the pilgrim, Dante. Here, she claims that he hasn't fulfilled his talent.

He hasn't? With so much of COMEDY behind us?

And what if then the point of this journey? Is it poetic craft or personal redemption?

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we comb through the first of Beatrice's condemnations of Dante's many failings that have led him to the top of Mount Purgatory.

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Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:41] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 100 - 126. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[04:23] What can the angels in the chariot not know?

[08:13] What germinates from heaven, far above the seeds that blow out of the Garden of Eden?

[11:15] What was Dante supposed to have done?

[15:19] What good was this journey across the known universe?

[18:40] How do you stay open to the grace you get but perhaps don't expect?

[20:02] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, lines 100 - 126.

Beatrice has offered her first condemnation of Dante, just as his salve and mentor, Virgil, has left the scene. He's stuck across Lethe with the ice sheet encasing his heart. Even the angels surrounding Beatrice in the chariot seem dumbfounded by her vitriol and offer the pilgrim a psalm of consolation . . . which finally makes the ice that has surrounded his heart melt. He ends up wailing.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this brilliant passage about interiority from the very top of Mount Purgatorio in the Garden of Eden.

Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:34] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 79 - 99. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment on this episode, please find its entry on my website: markscarbrough.com.

[03:53] One textual reference in the passage: Psalm 30/31: 1 - 8.

[07:46] A second textual reference in the passage: Augustine's CONFESSIONS, Book VIII.

[09:07] One metaphoric rearrangement in the passage: Beatrice as mother and Dante as son.

[11:55] A second metaphoric rearrangement: the melting ice inside of Dante.

[19:28] Allegory as art.

[22:30] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, lines 79 - 99.