hBjcDQfnMguRXVnjTNgM O, Fortuna: INFERNO, Canto VII, Lines 67 - 96 - Walking With Dante

Episode 35

O, Fortuna: INFERNO, Canto VII, Lines 67 - 96

Published on: 24th January, 2021

Dante wants to know why some people have it good and some, bad. Virgil, seemingly impatient, sets into his sermon on the goddess Fortune who controls this world. It's boiler-plate Boethius . . . but may be a lot more, too.

We've come to the back part of Canto VII of INFERNO. We've seen those who hoard their wealth and those who spend too much. And Virgil's got some sort of answer. Trouble is, it's not a satisfying answer. Nor (I think) are standard interpretations of this passage in INFERNO.

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

[01:03] I read all of INFERNO, Canto VII through this passage: lines 67 - 96. To find my English translation, discover a deeper study guide, or even continue the conversation with me about this passage by dropping a comment, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[06:39] A series of glosses on this passage to explain some of the more opaque lines.

[13:00] Stepping back, let's look at Virgil's sermon. First off, it's from Boethius' work ON THE CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY. This (pseudo-)orthodox work causes some cracks in Dante's poem.

[20:25] Four interpretive stances on Virgil's sermon about Fortune: 1) Virgil is wrong, 2) Virgil is right (because his character in COMEDY is changing), 3) Virgil is right but within limits, and 4) this passage isn't about Virgil but is the start of the progress of revelation in COMEDY.

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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!