Brides, Grooms, And Virgil: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 1 - 21

The grand parade of revelation has come to a stop across Lethe from our pilgrim, Virgil, and Statius. Everything seems to hold its breath: the constellations stop moving, the crowd goes quiet, one voice calls out for the bride, then a hundred angels appear, calling out for the groom . . . which is surely Jesus, right?

We seem to be on the verge of a celestial marriage ceremony, the mystic union of Jesus and his church . . . except Virgil's AENEID gets the last word and darkens the scene considerably.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we stand in expectation at the top of Mount Purgatory for the arrival of . . . somebody.

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

[01:24] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 1 - 21. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me by dropping a comment on this episode, please find its entry on my website: markscarbrough.com.

[04:33] The Little Dipper, the North Star, the chariot, a griffin, and the Bible, all bound up in the longest sentence in COMEDY.

[13:59] The resurrection with a reclothed voice (that is, the stuff of poetry).

[16:38] Many angels in a very small cart.

[19:32] Quoting the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem (here and in The Vita Nuova).

[21:44] Quoting the tragic prophecy about Marcellus from THE AENEID.

[24:43] Inserting Dante and Virgil into Biblical citations.

[26:59] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, lines 1 - 21.