The pilgrim has found the perfect perch to see the full scope and length of the parade of allegories at the top of the Mount Purgatory in the garden of Eden.

After the griffin and its chariot come seven merry women and seven more somber men. They are complex allegories that have inspired much debate.

More than that, they are also an atemporal moment, something outside of chronological time, the way revelation most often happens.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look more closely at the end of the (first half of the) apocalyptic parade our pilgrim witnesses from across the river Lethe.

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

[01:13] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, Lines 121 - 154. 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.

[04:34] The three theological virtues (or colors)--which cause a rereading of previous moments in the great parade.

[09:02] The four cardinal or philosophical virtues, clothed in purple, a deep, imperial red.

[12:00] The seven men who end the parade as seen through the now standard (or consensus) interpretation: the latter books of the New Testament.

[16:06] Alternate interpretations: the allegories as a parade of revelation, rather than strictly the books of the Bible.

[20:38] The metapoetics of living, walking books.

[21:24] The temporal anomaly of the grand parade.

[24:11] Rereading the entire parade: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, lines 43 - 154.

The parade goes on to include a Roman, two-wheeled, victory chariot between the four animals. It's a brilliant moment, a chariot better than even famous Roman conquerors got, pulled by a griffin, a legendary two-natured creature . . . yet with a curious moment of emptiness right in all of the victory.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we continue deeper into the allegory of the parade of revelation at the top of Mount Purgatory.

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

[01:32] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, lines 106 - 120. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation about this passage with me, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:13] The changing nature of allegory at the top of Mount Purgatory.

[09:38] The poetics of the passage: extreme concision and more of Guido Cavalcanti's pastoral poetry.

[13:26] Roman military history in the passage: Scipio the Younger and Caesar Augustus.

[17:41] Roman (or Ovidian) mythology in the passage: Phaëthon and the sun's chariot.

[21:39] The griffin: ancient, medieval, and allegorical (but of what?).

[27:20] The great aporia: the chariot is empty!

[28:51] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, lines 106 - 120.

The parade goes on, now that the pilgrim, Dante, is in a good spot to see it.

After the twenty-four lords in white come four animals with green fronds as crowns. They are like the Cherubim in both the prophecies of Ezekiel and in the Apocalypse of St. John (or the book of Revelation).

Except not really. Or sort of. Well, the poet doesn't have time to explain. Go read the text yourself. And especially the one that doesn't quite agree with what I saw.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we find Dante's irony alive and well, even during the grand parade of divine revelation.

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

[01:20] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, Lines 88 - 105. 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.

[02:56] The naturalistic, lush landscape à la Guido Cavalcanti's pastoral poem.

[04:49] The constellations, Argus, and the peacock.

[06:35] The four "animals" from Ezekiel and the Apocalypse of St. John (or the New Testament book of Revelation).

[09:19] Allegorical interpretations of the four animals.

[11:19] "Unmoored" allegories in COMEDY: here and with the three beasts in INFERNO, Canto I.

[14:02] Dante, the Biblical text, and questions of its inerrancy.

[16:25] The direct address tot he reader, perhaps a wild bit of Dantean irony even here in the divine parade.

[21:34] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, lines 88 - 105.