hBjcDQfnMguRXVnjTNgM Mark Scarbrough's WALKING WITH DANTE: The Audacity Of Statius In PURGATORIO, Canto XXI, Lines 76 - 102 - Walking With Dante

Episode 168

The Audacity Of Statius: PURGATORIO, Canto XXI, Lines 76 - 102

Published on: 27th April, 2025

We finally get to know our unknown shade on the fifth terrace of Purgatory: Statius, the epic Roman poet.

His salvation is one of the most audacious moves in all of COMEDY. Dante has to work every fiction-making muscle he has to assert that this pagan poet has spend so long in Purgatory on his way to heaven . . . and finds himself face to face with Virgil, his poetic inspiration and apparently the carrier of God's revelation.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we discover another way that love moves the fence.

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

[01:52] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXI, lines 76 - 102. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[04:49] Introducing Publius Papinius Statius (45 - 96 CE), the author of THE THEBIAD and THE ACHILLEID . . . and a soul who should never be here in Purgatory.

[10:36] Virgil's continued insistence on the "why?"

[13:38] The lamentable if inevitable bloom of antisemitism in COMEDY.

[17:30] Statius, always without faith in the historical record but always vocalized in COMEDY.

[20:36] The shocking conjunction of THE AENEID and babytalk.

[24:06] A bit of heresy from Statius . . . unless the redeemed don't have to be perfect.

[27:19] Why Statius in Canto XXI of PURGATORIO?

[31:35] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXI, lines 76 - 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!