The griffin rolls his chariot up to the foot of a denuded tree as Beatrice descends out of her ride. The symbolism (the allegories, in fact) become increasingly murky, difficult to parse, especially when the griffin says his one and only line in COMEDY.

Dante's Garden of Eden is a place where the games of interpretation kick into high gear. Nothing is what it seems . . . yet what it is is a matter of much debate.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through this increasingly complex passage on our way to the final apocalyptic vision of PURGATORIO.

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

[01:04] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 28 - 48. 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.

[03:04] Statius, both physically and thematically in the passage.

[05:55] Adam and Eve, with notes toward the theological fall of mankind.

[09:19] The stripped tree in the Garden of Eden . . . but which tree?

[14:49] The griffin, becoming a more difficult allegory with his one and only line in COMEDY.

[21:06] Beatrice and her (complex) descent from the chariot/cart.

[25:57] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, lines 28 - 48.