Episode 89. Walking On Pride, Part One: PURGATORIO, Canto XII, Lines 25 - 36

Virgil has directed Dante the pilgrim to look down at the road bed. Dante sees figures carved into the terrace . . . and he begins to walk on pride, the way one might walk over tombs in the floor of a church.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the first four figures carved into road bed. Who are they? How is the passage crafted? And what can they tell us about the dualism of pride and humility?

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

[02:02] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XII, lines 25 - 36. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please scroll down this page.

[03:47] Who are these figures? Lucifer, Briareus, Apollo, Athena, Mars, Jupiter, and Nimrod.

[10:14] What are the rhetorical, thematic, and formal poetic structures used to describe this first set of four exemplars.

[14:45] One curiosity in the passage: Statius's THEBIAD may lie behind much of it.

[15:55] Another curiosity: One set of figures are NOT exemplars of pride.

[16:59] A final curiosity: Apollo's occluded presence in the passage.

[19:33] The first of three discussions on the difficulty of making humility a virtue.

And here’s my translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XII, lines 25 - 36:

I saw the one who was made nobler

Than any other creature; he fell like lightning

From the sky over to one side.

On the other side, I saw Briareus,

Fixed in place by a celestial lightning bolt,

Now heavy on the earth in the chill of death.

I saw Thymbraeus. I saw Pallas and Mars,

Stilled suited up in armor, along with their father,

All marveling at the scattered limbs of the giants.

I saw Nimrod at the pediment of his grand work,

Seemingly lost and staring at the people

Who partook of his pride at Shinar.