Walking With Dante20 Jul 2025

Of Mythic Trees, Human Desire, And Ceremonial Solace: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, Lines 100 - 129

Forese Donati has passed on ahead of our pilgrim Dante and his two guides, Virgil and Statius. They now need to walk on along the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory to find the stairs up to the last level.

They soon come across the second tree on the terrace (or perhaps just the second tree that they’ve seen!). This tree proclaims itself a seedling from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden.

Dante and his companions appear a bit shook up as the tree offers them a classical and a Biblical example of gluttony.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we begin our exit from the sixth terrace of Purgatory and talk about the solace of ceremonial repetition.

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

[01:34] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 100 - 129. If you’d like to read along or drop a comment about this episode, please find the entry for it on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[04:47] Unpacking the first four tercets (ll. 100 - 111) and asking five questions about the second tree on Purgatory’s sixth terrace of gluttony.

[12:30] The possible regression to childish desire as a form of penance on this terrace.

[16:05] The second tree on the terrace, a seedling from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden.

[24:29] The classical and Biblical examples of gluttony: centaurs and Gideon’s army.

[28:53] Ceremonial repetition as solace.

[33:38] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 100 - 129

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