Walking With Dante

Beatrice concludes her giant discourse on free will with a Biblical and a classical example of a foolish vow. Then she turns to Christians to exhort them to move with greater deliberation . . . before descending to a nasty bit of antisemitism.
Hers is a curious ending to her reasoning in the sphere of the moon, not just because of the pernicious talk of "the Jew," but also because her final tercets offer interpretive knots not easily unwound.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we finish our time in the moon and prepare to take flight to the second sphere of the heavens.
To help support this podcast, consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend, using this PayPal link right here.
Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:12] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto V, Lines 64 - 84. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscabrough.com.
[03:09] A Biblical and a classical reference: Jephthah and Iphigenia.
[07:27] Beatrice, unanchored from the pilgrim Dante, addressing the church (or the poem's readers).
[10:10] Unabashed antisemitism and its tie to the rites of sacrifice.
[12:49] The nature of proper movement in PARADISO: deliberate and orderly.
[15:15] Beatrice's almost uninterpretable ending to the discourse on free will.
[22:08] Rereading PARADISO, Canto V, lines 64 - 84.

At last, Beatrice explains how you can make up for broken or unfulfilled vows: Just give back 150% of the original worth of the thing vowed.
But what happens when the thing vowed can't be valued . . . or breaks every scale.
Her answer ropes in both the one who vows and the church who can offer an out to the vow.
In other words, Dante is setting the terms of canon law.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this tough passage about vows, free will, and the out for what you've broken.
Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:15] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto V, Lines 34 - 63. 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.
[03:56] An examination of the small, gritty details in this difficult passage about making up for broken or unfulfilled vows.
[17:32] Food as crucial imagery in PARADISO.
[20:36] Three ways out of unfulfilled vows: the eternal light in all things, God's consent, and Beatrice's 150% accounting scheme.
[23:14] Dante's possible attempt to make up for his broken vow to Beatrice.
[24:53] Vows and the possible threat of the Avignon papacy.
[28:09] Rereading the passage: PARADISO, Canto V, lines 34 - 63.

Beatrice begins the final part of her argument with the premise that the freedom of the will is the greatest gift given to angels and humans.
She then offers one out to her rather strict notion of ethical behavior—some vows may not be valid—and proceeds to claim that the will wills its own loss while making a vow.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the apotheosis of free will in Beatrice's final discourse in the sphere of the moon.
To help support this podcast and cover its many fees, please consider a donation at this PayPal link right here.
Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:33] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto V, Lines 17 - 33. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment about this episode, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.
[03:24] The greatest gift is free will--thus, evil is a moral reality, not a metaphysical or an ontological reality.
[09:17] The will wills its loss in a vow, an act of self-limitation (if God so agrees).
[13:51] You can't climb over the fence of your vow.
[16:16] The will may well be paramount--unless a poet gets involved.
[19:16] Rereading PARADISO, Canto V, lines 17 - 33.

Dante wants to know if someone (who?) can make an unfulfilled vow good with other good works?
Beatrice begins her answer with a tightly woven passage that illustrate a high degree of poetic skill . . . and then seems to acknowledge her own role in starting a canto of the poem.
Dante's question remains curious? To or for whom was the vow made? And how is it broken?
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the meta-beginning of the fifth canto of PARADISO.
Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:20] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto V, Lines 1 - 16. 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.
[03:15] Rhetorical strategies: fire, sight, and love tightly interwoven (along with a mixed metaphor!).
[09:05] Fire, sight, and love: the metaphoric crux for the theological idea of the vestige of eternal light in all things.
[13:14] The root of the problem of unfulfilled vows: potential litigation in heaven's court.
[18:04] A meta-canto possibly about the poet's unfulfilled vows . . . to Beatrice, yes, but perhaps also to his readers.
[24:16] Rereading PARADISO, Canto V, lines 1- 16.

Beatrice has answered the pilgrim's two unasked questions . . . but she doesn't yet know the one he really wants to ask.
Having heard her doctrines about free will and unfulfilled vows, the pilgrim Dante winds himself up through flattery and intellectual curiosity to ask perhaps a personal question about his own unfulfilled vows.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at the ways Beatrice's discussions of free will have only caused the pilgrim Dante more problems, even as they've satisfied his intellect.
Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:35] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto IV, Lines 115 - 142. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment on this episode, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.
[04:20] The journey of the intellect is the journey of the desire that arises from doubt.
[12:37] The pilgrim Dante flatters Beatrice . . . maybe too much.
[17:43] Who is addressed in this passage? Isn't it too much to attribute to Beatrice?
[20:26] The poet mixes the metaphors to further push truth into poetic space.
[22:51] Dante asks a personal question about his unfulfilled vow . . . maybe.
[26:24] Beatrice, Francesca, Dante, and Nebuchadnezzar.
[30:11] Rereading PARADISO, Canto IV, lines 115 - 142.