This interpolated episode of WALKING WITH DANTE takes on a structural analysis of the first two cantos of PURGATORIO--as well as our first vertical reading of COMEDY, comparing INFERNO I and II with PURGATORIO I and II.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we begin to see the incredible architecture of Dante's masterwork COMEDY.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:47] PURGATORIO, Cantos I and II are bracketed by appearances of Cato.[03:20] PURGATORIO, Canto I is Virgil's; Canto II is Dante's.[04:26] The first two cantos of PURGATORIO open with astronomical/astrological references.[06:02] PURGATORIO gets increasingly crowded over its first two cantos.[08:25] PURGATORIO's first two cantos are full of hesitations.[11:11] Let's turn to the question of a "vertical" interpretation of INFERNO I & II and PURGATORIO I & II.[13:53] In INFERNO I, Virgil appears; in PURGATORIO I, Cato appears.[16:55] Both INFERNO's and PURGATORIO's openings include a descent.[19:19] The run rises in first parts of the two canticles.[20:33] In INFERNO II and PURGATORIO II, we get glimpses of Paradise.[21:35] For INFERNO I & II and PURGATORIO I & II, there's a chiasmus: Dante - Virgil in INFERNO; Virgil - Dante in PURGATORIO.[22:40] In INFERNO I & II, the way is clear; in PURGATORIO I & II, it's not.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.