Chilly Dreams Before The Fifth Terrace Of Purgatory: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, Lines 1- 15
Our pilgrim has fallen asleep on the edge of the fourth terrace of Mount Purgatory. He's seen the racing slothful but night has gotten the better of him . . . so he begins to dream.That dream is all a...
16 Feb 202527min
Greedy Beasts That Refuse The Lure: A Read-Through Of The Fifth Terrace Of PURGATORIO, Cantos XIX - XXI
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 my...
18 Des 202427min
Fear, New Thoughts, And Dreams: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, Lines 130 - 145
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--curious...
15 Des 202420min
Speaking Truth To Power: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, Lines 97 - 129
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 t...
11 Des 202427min
The Sleepy Can Get Run Over: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, Lines 76 - 96
Our pilgrim has found himself in the dark of night, a time where he loses all effort on Mount Purgatory.But don't get too sleepy, Dante. You can get run over by the slothful, all at a full gallop in a...
8 Des 202427min
Virgil, Reason, Love, And The Roots Of Modern Ethics: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, Lines 49 - 75
Virgil offers his third discourse on love at the middle of PURGATORIO to 1) show his work about ethics derived from Aristotle's notions of substance and cause and 2) to make sure the pilgrim understan...
4 Des 202439min
Questions Of Pregnancy And Blame: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, Lines 40 - 48
Virgil has finished his second, clarifying discourse on love, but it hasn't done the trick. The pilgrim Dante is even more full of doubts . . . pregnant with them, in fact.Let's look at the pilgrim's ...
1 Des 202421min
The Cognitive, Rational Basis Of Love: PURGATORIO, Canto XVIII, Lines 19 - 39
In answer to the pilgrim's request that Virgil show his work on the nature of love, Virgil (and the poet Dante behind him) condense and recast the very bases of the thinking in Western culture: Aristo...
27 Nov 202432min
