hBjcDQfnMguRXVnjTNgM Mark Scarbrough's WALKING WITH DANTE: Images, Schools, Obscurities, And The Promise Of Clarity In PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 79 - 102 - Walking With Dante

Episode 255

Images, Schools, Obscurities, And The Promise Of Clarity: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 79 - 102

Published on: 1st April, 2026

After her final discourse in PURGATORIO, Beatrice and Dante enter into a brief conversation in which he admits he already has images stamped into his brain but he doesn't know what many of them mean, particularly those from her.

She, on the other hand, launches into her final condemnation: the school he followed was too debased to capture the truths she has in hand.

But she doesn't end there. She also promises greater clarity ahead. Thank goodness!

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through the conclusion of her discourse and discover the ways Dante may be signaling us that the rational mind is not enough to understand theological truths.

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

[01:18] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 79 - 102. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me about this passage, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:15] Questions about brain impressions, perhaps derived from the figurae of Joachim da Fiore.

[09:22] Beatrice's condemnation of the school Dante followed . . . and the questions about which school does she mean.

[17:38] The question of whether Dante fully experiences Purgatory.

[21:02] The hope of greater clarity ahead.

[22:57] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, lines 79 - 102.

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About the Podcast

Walking With Dante
A passage-by-passage stroll through Dante’s DIVINE COMEDY with Mark Scarbrough
Ever wanted to read Dante's Divine Comedy? Come along with us! We're not lost in the scholarly weeds. (Mostly.) We're strolling through the greatest work (to date) of Western literature. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I take on this masterpiece passage by passage. I'll give you my rough English translation, show you some of the interpretive knots in the lines, let you in on the 700 years of commentary, and connect Dante's work to our modern world. The pilgrim comes awake in a dark wood, then walks across the known universe. New episodes every Sunday and Wednesday.
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Mark Scarbrough

Former lit professor, current cookbook writer, creator of two podcasts, writer of thirty-five (and counting) cookbooks, author of one memoir (coming soon!), married to a chef (my cookbook co-writer, Bruce Weinstein), and with him, the owner of two collies, all in a very rural spot in New England. My life's full and I'm up for more challenges!