The Cause Is In You: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, Lines 64 - 84

Walking With Dante

Dante the pilgrim has asked the angry Marco of Lombardy the cause of the world's ills. Marco responds with both exasperation and affection before turning to the root of the matter: The cause is in all of you.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at this central passage in COMEDY, a grand statement of the Christian paradox of free will.

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

[01:49] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, lines 64 - 84. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please find this podcast entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[04:15] A justification for how this episode works.

[06:00] The conflation of anger and affection in the texture of the passage.

[08:49] Marco's teamwork with Guido del Duca, back among the envious.

[10:02] Human feelings as the proof for free will.

[13:27] One impetus to behavior (the zodiac signs) with two initial gifts (light and free will).

[15:22] Two outs for free will: the battles against those astrological signs and proper nourishment. (But not Satan or the demons!)

[19:48] Free will and God's control: the breadth of Dante's pasture.

[28:03] The cause of evil: humans. The truth of God: transcendence.

[31:17] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, lines 64 - 84.