After Dante confesses his unworthiness in the opening of Canto II of INFERNO, Virgil clarifies the matter. "You're not hesitant for modesty's sake. You're a coward."

Then Virgil does what humans do. He tells a story. One that's almost too good to be true: the first time Virgil met Beatrice.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for more steps on the journey across the known universe on the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE.

Here are the segments of this episode:

[02:13] My English translation of this passage from INFERNO: Canto II, 43 - 75

[05:53] Rhetoric. What is it? Why's it so important?

[07:03] Virgil's initial salvo at Dante: a sneer, followed by a redefinition of the problem.

[11:53] Then Virgil unexpectedly stumbles. He says something that's unintelligible to those who haven't read COMEDY. Why does he suddenly say something the pilgrim would never understand?

[13:46] In this war of words for who's up to telling this tale: Beatrice steps up to (the rhetorical) bat. First, a bit about what her speech is like: "gentle and soft." A crucial point for COMEDY.

[16:10] Beatrice's first speech (but, well, in Virgil's mouth). She opens with flattery, then lays it on really thick. So much so that she ends at a place that seems almost, well, irrational. Or at the very least impossible in this Christian context.