PURGATORIO, Episode 128. The Best World Is A World With Two Suns: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, Lines 97 - 129

The angry penitent Marco of Lombardy continues his diagnosis of the world's ills. It should have two suns. It's got only one. And a sun that's not kosher. Or that perhaps cannot be kosher. So is the fault in us, as he claimed? Or is the corruption of the world a systemic problem?

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PURGATORIO, Episode 127. The Shocking News That The Soul Is A Little Girl: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, Lines 85 - 96

On the third terrace of anger on Mount Purgatory and in a dark, dense smoke that permits no light, Marco of Lombardy continues his great discourse on free will with a surprising turn: a developmental hypothesis of the soul as a little girl.

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PURGATORIO, Episode 126. The Cause Is In You: PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, Lines 64 - 84

Dante the pilgrim has asked the angry Marco of Lombardy the central question: why have things become so bad on earth? Marco's begins his answer with both exasperation and affection, then he launches into the heart of the matter: free will. The cause is in all of you.

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PURGATORIO, Episode 125. How Can You Justify The Ways Of God (Or At Least, The Stars): PURGATORIO, Canto XVI, Lines 52 - 63

Dante finds himself about to explode with doubt, thanks to Marco of Lombardy’s snark about the loss of valor in the bows of this world. Dante’s question is really about the nature and cause of evil. How did things get so bad? Let’s pick apart the pilgrim’s question before we get to Marco’s answer.

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