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Having seen the intaglios, Dante is still in wonder as the first penitents round the bend. Virgil spots them first . . . and murmurs to Dante.

Murmurs? It’s a loaded verb in a passage about Dante’s theory of art.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we take on this short passage in PURGATORIO, Canto X, a passage that seams the canto together . . . or perhaps reveals its stitching.

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

[02:07] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto X, lines 94 - 111. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.

[04:18] This passage is a seam in the narrative, an important break in its structure.

[06:50] In Dante's theory of art, only God can create something out of nothing.

[08:21] Only in retrospect do we know what the intaglios were about. Or do we?

[10:00] Dante is writing ekphrastic poetry (poetry about a piece of visual art) about art that doesn't exist except in his own imaginative landscape.

[12:28] Several possible answers to the complicated question of Virgil's murmuring in this scene.

[18:08] Dante's third address to the reader in PURGATORIO may exhibit a hesitation or even an insecurity in the narrative.

[23:12] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto X, lines 94 - 111.