The Shocking Emptiness Of Revelation: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, Lines 106 - 120

The parade goes on to include a Roman, two-wheeled, victory chariot between the four animals. It's a brilliant moment, a chariot better than even famous Roman conquerors got, pulled by a griffin, a legendary two-natured creature . . . yet with a curious moment of emptiness right in all of the victory.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we continue deeper into the allegory of the parade of revelation at the top of Mount Purgatory.

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

[01:32] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, lines 106 - 120. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation about this passage with me, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:13] The changing nature of allegory at the top of Mount Purgatory.

[09:38] The poetics of the passage: extreme concision and more of Guido Cavalcanti's pastoral poetry.

[13:26] Roman military history in the passage: Scipio the Younger and Caesar Augustus.

[17:41] Roman (or Ovidian) mythology in the passage: Phaëthon and the sun's chariot.

[21:39] The griffin: ancient, medieval, and allegorical (but of what?).

[27:20] The great aporia: the chariot is empty!

[28:51] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, lines 106 - 120.