The Place Beyond Accidental Change: PURGATORIO, Canto XXI, Lines 40 - 57
Virgil has asked two questions: Why'd the mountain shake and why'd the shades all cry out with one voice?The unknown shade on the fifth terrace of Mount Purgatory begins his answer by referring to Ari...
20 Apr 202523min
Virgil's Classical Schooling And (Irreverent?) Insistence: PURGATORIO, Canto XXI, Lines 22 - 39
The unknown shade has been gobsmacked by the fact that escapees from hell may be climbing Mount Purgatory.Virgil explains that the pilgrim is still very much alive. To do so, Virgil uses classical, no...
16 Apr 202524min
A Shade Appears: PURGATORIO, Canto XXI, Lines 1 - 21
Dante is left wondering why the mountain has shaken when an even deeper mystery occurs: a shade appears seemingly out of nowhere and behind our pilgrim and Virgil.This shade offers a Christian greetin...
13 Apr 202534min
Fear And Trembling On The Mountain: PURGATORIO, Canto XX, Lines 124 - 151
Dante the pilgrim and Virgil have seemingly moved off even as Hugh Capet was still speaking. They're picking their way among the avaricious when they're stopped by an earthquake that rattles Mount Pur...
9 Apr 202527min
Hugh Capet's Antiphon: PURGATORIO, Canto XX, Lines 97 - 123
Hugh Capet has spent a long time answering the pilgrim Dante's first question: who were you? He now turns to the pilgrim's second question: why did I only hear your voice on this terrace?In doing so, ...
6 Apr 202532min
When The French Monarchy Makes Even The Papacy Look Good: PURGATORIO, Canto XX, Lines 82 - 96
As Hugh Capet winds up to the heights of his monologue, he comes to a most shocking climax: that moment when the French monarchy is so bad that it makes even the corrupt papacy look good.We've come to...
2 Apr 202527min
The Madness Of Hugh Capet's Descendants: PURGATORIO, Canto XX, Lines 61 - 81
Hugh Capet continues the story of his family, bringing the saga of the French (or Frankish) crown into Dante's day with three of Hugh's most infamous descendants . . . at least as far as the poet is c...
30 Mar 202535min
Hugh Capet In Purgatory . . . Or Maybe Not: PURGATORIO, Canto XX, Lines 40 - 60
The pilgrim has been attracted by one soul, calling out his examples of Mary, Fabricius, and Nicholas to counter his own sins of avarice.Dante steps closer and inquires who this soul is. He finds hims...
26 Mar 202534min
