Marco Of Lombardy Redux: Questions From PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, Lines 46 - 145

Walking With Dante

We've finished Marco of Lombardy's central discourse about free will, the soul's maturation, and the systemic problems with the world. Now let's look back at the whole speech and talk through some of the larger issues it raises.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at Marco's speech in PURGATORIO in its entirety.

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

[01:28] Rereading all of Marco of Lombardy's speech in my English translation: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, lines 46 - 145. The separate passages of this speech can be found among the former episodes of this podcast.

[07:09] Why is Marco's speech so heavily cribbed?

[09:47] Why is Marco himself an opaque historical figure?

[13:01] Why does Marco's discourse move from personal space to metaphoric space and back to personal space?

[15:16] Is Marco's speech really theological?

[19:43] Who "convened" the laws and leader that Marco wants?

[22:52] Is the point of Marco's speech to give Dante permission to preach about corruption?