Walking With Dante

Beatrice concludes her explanation for moon spots by veering away from them specifically to talk about the nature of the universe.
Blessed movers turn the spheres. Or perhaps inhabit them. Or are bound to them. Or maybe even give them life.
Her argument may veer into heresy as Dante brings his universe alive . . . maybe literally.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this dense and abstruse conclusion to Beatrice's first major discourse in PARADISO.
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Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:20] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 127 - 148. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation by dropping a comment about this episode, please find its entry on my website: markscarbrough.com.
[04:26] A paraphrase of this difficult passage.
[06:14] Beatrice's central questions: How do the spheres of the heavens move and how do they disperse their influence?
[13:03] Light as the vehicle for stellar or heavenly influence.
[14:26] Heresy, angels, spheres, souls, and bodies: Is the universe at least partly alive?
[20:36] Beatrice's incomplete discourse: How do some spheres have more than one nature and how are any dark spots dark?
[23:08] The bigger implication: Dark and light parts of people . . . and maybe of the blessed.
[24:47] Rereading the passage: PARADISO, Canto II, lines 127 - 148.

Beatrice now launches into the true explanation for moon spots, found not in folklore, not in natural philosophy, but in metaphysics.
Her explanation pushes her to disclose the parts of the universe we could never see, then lets her discuss diversity as a function of the light falling from the stars through the planets to us.
A gorgeously poetic passage, it also raises many more questions than it answers . . . . questions that will trouble PARADISO for cantos to come.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we begin the discovery of Dante's ultimate explanation for moon spots. They're not physical. They're metaphysical.
Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:45] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 106 - 126. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment on this episode to continue the conversation, find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.
[04:10] An overview of the three explanations for moon spots and of the structure of this passage.
[06:27] Beatrice's metaphysical explanation for moon spots.
[16:32] Dante's fully aligned (and thus broken) cosmos.
[19:05] Two astrological implications from Beatrice's metaphysics.
[22:41] Beatrice's metaphors in the passage.
[26:37] Rereading PARADISO, Canto II, lines 106 - 126.

Beatrice continues in her scientific and Scholastic explanation for moon spots by taking apart a secondary argument . . . and proposing an optical experiment.
She voices an objection Dante might have: perhaps there are dense bits behind the rare bits that reflect light as darker spots because those denser bits are farther off.
To prove him wrong (although he hasn't said a thing), she asks him to set up an experiment with three mirrors.
Problem is, he doesn't need three mirrors for this experiment. But he does need three if he wants to show that the universe is based on a trinitarian concept of God.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at one of the more surprising moments in PARADISO: the call for scientific experimentation (perhaps to prove a theological point).
Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:13] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 85 - 105. To read along or to continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.
[03:25] The basic structure of the passage: Beatrice's secondary explanation (or objection), then her experimental refutation of that explanation.
[05:29] Medieval optical theory and its limits.
[08:36] The limits of Beatrice's proposed experiment--and why they may not matter since the point may be theology, not optical theory or cosmology.
[17:23] Four possiblereasons this long discussion of moon spots lands here in COMEDY.
[23:41] Rereading the passage: PARADISO, Canto II, lines 85 - 105.

Beatrice begins her destruction of Dante's explanation for moon spots by taking apart his notion of dense and rare spots on the lunar surface . . . with a dizzying display of mixed metaphors.
Her argument lofts to the highest visible heaven, the eighth sphere; then falls back into scholastic reasoning; and offering both experimental and poetic rationales for why he's wrong.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the first part of Beatrice's explanation for moon spots, predicated on the bass line of the incarnation.
Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:20] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 64 - 84. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation about this passage, find its entry at my website, markscarbrough.com.
[03:27] Paraphrasing this difficult passage in Beatrice's argument about moon spots.
[04:46] Lofting the argument to the eighth heaven, the highest part of visible creation (from Dante's perspective).
[08:15] Offering diversity as complexity beyond a simple continuum for an answer.
[12:31] Moving into experimental (or experiential) proofs for her argument (and implicitly for an understanding of the incarnation of Jesus).
[15:13] Inspiring a dizzying vertigo through mixed metaphors to state the negative of her argument.
[18:41] Rereading the passage: PARADISO, Canto II, lines 64 - 84.

Now that our pilgrim Dante is standing in the moon, he has a fundamental question: Why are there spots on the moon?
And he thinks he knows the answer, right out of natural philosophy. They're caused by rare and dense material in the moon.
He's asking a question for which he knows the answer, trying to play teacher's pet. But Beatrice is having none of it. She's ready to show him how he's not as smart as he thinks he is.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we begin our descent into some of the most complicated material in all of COMEDY.
Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:14] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 46 - 63. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment about this episode, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.
[02:57] Two small thematic details: the uses of the word "body" and Beatrice's watery metaphor of "submerged."
[06:02] Two of three explanations for moon spots in this canto: 1) the folkloric myth and 2) the natural philosophy deduction.
[07:57] Folklore: Cain and his thorns in the moon.
[09:21] Natural philosophy: rare and dense materials (and how they reflect light).
[12:54] The distance Beatrice puts between her arguments (to come) and 1) sensory input and 2) reason . . . and thereby Virgil.
[17:07] Diversity and a pluralistic world.
[19:07] Rereading the passage: PARADISO, Canto II, lines 46 - 63.