Beatrice now takes on the pilgrim's second . . . doubt? It had been questions. Now it sounds as if it's more. Doubts.

Here, she launches into a discussion of free will that ultimately implicates Piccarda and Constance in their own failures, even though they were forced against their wills out of the convents.

Beatrice offers a hard, troubling rationale for their lower status in the pursuit of what she sees as the higher good: the sanctity of free will.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this provocative passage, one of the few moments in which Dante refuses to move his fences.

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

[01:01] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto IV, Lines 64 - 90. If you'd like to read along or continue the discussion with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:31] The less venomous doubt, perhaps because it takes place fully inside Christian theology.

[08:59] Laying the blame on Piccarda and Constance.

[13:04] Aristotle's concept of the involuntary will and the voluntary will; Aquinas' concept of the absolute will and the conditional will.

[19:53] Examples of a firm will: the Christian St. Lawrence and the pagan Mucius.

[24:47] Three implications: the punishment/reward matrix from INFERNO and PURGATORIO continuing into PARADISO, the possible self-editing of PARADISO, and the failure to move the established fence.

[30:33] Rereading the passage: PARADISO, Canto IV, lines 64 - 90.