We've climbed up to the fifth terrace of Purgatory proper and come among the avaricious. These three cantos become increasingly complex and daring: in their theology, in their poetics, and in their myth-making.

They're extraordinarily rich. Gilded, even. Which somehow fits, since these are the cantos in which the greedy purge their sin.

And we've got three incredible monologues: from a late-to-repent pope, one of the founders of the French monarchy, and Statius, the great Roman poet whose THEBIAD has been with us all along in COMEDY.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for a read-through of Cantos XIX, XX, and XXI of PURGATORIO before we begin our slow walk along this most dangerous terrace.

The zealous slothful have run on, although there are still two coming in the rear, "biting" the penitents from behind with warnings about sloth.

After that, the pilgrim Dante has a new thought--curiously undefined--which leads him into his second dream in PURGATORIO.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we finish off Canto XVIII and leave our pilgrim to his slumbers.

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

[01:30] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, lines 130 - 145. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:16] Virgil, but only in periphrasis.

[07:27] Two warnings: one Biblical and one classical (from The Aeneid!).

[11:27] The connection between fear and sloth.

[13:41] The pilgrim's new thought: possibly Beatrice?

[18:01] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, lines 1130 - 145.

At last, the slothful penitents arrive. They're a roiling horde in a crazy rush, whipped around the terrace to make up for the ways they were negligent in life.

As these frantic souls pass by, one of them speaks a brave truth about Dante the poet's primary patron, a fierce warlord who has sheltered the poet on the run but whose family may not be all they're cracked up to be.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through this amazing passage of PURGATORIO, a plea to not hesitate when it comes to speaking truth to power.

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

[01:32] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, lines n97 - 129. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find this episode in the list of episodes for this podcast on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[04:09] There are two admonitions for purposeful haste: Mary and Julius Caesar.

[09:46] An address to the penitents . . . from Virgil.

[11:00] Virgil clouds our definition of sloth . . . and perhaps our understanding of his place in PURGATORIO.

[15:47] The Abbott of San Zeno tells of the fall of his monastery into chaos (as well as Milan's fall into chaos).

[21:00] Hurry up and speak truth to power.

[24:12] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, lines 97 - 129.