With All Your Free Will, Move Deliberately: PARADISO, Canto V, Lines 64 - 84

About this episode

Beatrice concludes her giant discourse on free will with a Biblical and a classical example of a foolish vow. Then she turns to Christians to exhort them to move with greater deliberation . . . before descending to a nasty bit of antisemitism. Hers is a curious ending to her reasoning in the sphere of the moon, not just because of the pernicious talk of "the Jew," but also because her final tercets offer interpretive knots not easily unwound. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we finish our time in the moon and prepare to take flight to the second sphere of the heavens. To help support this podcast, consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend, using this PayPal link right here. Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE: [01:12] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto V, Lines 64 - 84. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscabrough.com. [03:09] A Biblical and a classical reference: Jephthah and Iphigenia. [07:27] Beatrice, unanchored from the pilgrim Dante, addressing the church (or the poem's readers). [10:10] Unabashed antisemitism and its tie to the rites of sacrifice