Paralyzed by Free Will: PARADISO, Canto IV, Lines 1 - 27

Piccarda may have vanished but questions remain. The pilgrim Dante is caught between them, unable to voice them.

Beatrice to the rescue! She voices what he cannot say . . . or perhaps what he is afraid to say.

She articulates his two questions, makes one of them very personal, and attempts to mitigate the anger of King Nebuchadnezzar . . . or maybe the pilgrim's anger.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the fascinating opening to the fourth canto of PARADISO.

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

[01:01] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto IV, lines 1 - 27. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment to continue the conversation, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:24] PURGATORIO Canto XVIII as the background for PARADISO Cantos IV and V.

[06:27] The multivalent, triplicate, opening simile--a man, a lamb, and a dog; hunger, fear, hunger--which embellishes a simile from PARADISO Canto III.

[12:51] Beatrice : Daniel :: Nebuchadnezzar : Dante?

[15:09] Beatrice's two intuited doubts from the pilgrim: the souls' origins and destinations, as well as the problem of coercion and the will.

[20:01] The Latin in the text, the veil of the will.

[22:22] The canto's opening simile again: paralysis, perhaps between women, certainly because of desire, hardly a hymn to rational free will.

[26:14] Rereading the passage: PARADISO, Canto IV, lines 1 - 27.