At last, Beatrice explains how you can make up for broken or unfulfilled vows: Just give back 150% of the original worth of the thing vowed.

But what happens when the thing vowed can't be valued . . . or breaks every scale.

Her answer ropes in both the one who vows and the church who can offer an out to the vow.

In other words, Dante is setting the terms of canon law.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this tough passage about vows, free will, and the out for what you've broken.

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

[01:15] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto V, Lines 34 - 63. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:56] An examination of the small, gritty details in this difficult passage about making up for broken or unfulfilled vows.

[17:32] Food as crucial imagery in PARADISO.

[20:36] Three ways out of unfulfilled vows: the eternal light in all things, God's consent, and Beatrice's 150% accounting scheme.

[23:14] Dante's possible attempt to make up for his broken vow to Beatrice.

[24:53] Vows and the possible threat of the Avignon papacy.

[28:09] Rereading the passage: PARADISO, Canto V, lines 34 - 63.

Beatrice begins the final part of her argument with the premise that the freedom of the will is the greatest gift given to angels and humans.

She then offers one out to her rather strict notion of ethical behavior—some vows may not be valid—and proceeds to claim that the will wills its own loss while making a vow.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the apotheosis of free will in Beatrice's final discourse in the sphere of the moon.

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

[01:33] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto V, Lines 17 - 33. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment about this episode, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:24] The greatest gift is free will--thus, evil is a moral reality, not a metaphysical or an ontological reality.

[09:17] The will wills its loss in a vow, an act of self-limitation (if God so agrees).

[13:51] You can't climb over the fence of your vow.

[16:16] The will may well be paramount--unless a poet gets involved.

[19:16] Rereading PARADISO, Canto V, lines 17 - 33.

Dante wants to know if someone (who?) can make an unfulfilled vow good with other good works?

Beatrice begins her answer with a tightly woven passage that illustrate a high degree of poetic skill . . . and then seems to acknowledge her own role in starting a canto of the poem.

Dante's question remains curious? To or for whom was the vow made? And how is it broken?

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the meta-beginning of the fifth canto of PARADISO.

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

[01:20] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto V, Lines 1 - 16. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:15] Rhetorical strategies: fire, sight, and love tightly interwoven (along with a mixed metaphor!).

[09:05] Fire, sight, and love: the metaphoric crux for the theological idea of the vestige of eternal light in all things.

[13:14] The root of the problem of unfulfilled vows: potential litigation in heaven's court.

[18:04] A meta-canto possibly about the poet's unfulfilled vows . . . to Beatrice, yes, but perhaps also to his readers.

[24:16] Rereading PARADISO, Canto V, lines 1- 16.