PURGATORIO, Episode 227. The Shocking Emptiness Of Revelation: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, Lines 106 - 120

The parade goes on to include a Roman, two-wheeled, victory chariot between the four animals. It's a brilliant moment, a chariot better than even famous Roman conquerors got, pulled by a griffin, a legendary two-natured creature . . . yet with a curious moment of emptiness right in all of the victory.

The segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:32] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, lines 106 - 120. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation about this passage with me, scroll down this page.

[03:13] The changing nature of allegory at the top of Mount Purgatory.

[09:38] The poetics of the passage: extreme concision and more of Guido Cavalcanti's pastoral poetry.

[13:26] Roman military history in the passage: Scipio the Younger and Caesar Augustus.

[17:41] Roman (or Ovidian) mythology in the passage: Phaëthon and the sun's chariot.

[21:39] The griffin: ancient, medieval, and allegorical (but of what?).

[27:20] The great aporia: the chariot is empty!

[28:51] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, lines 106 - 120.

My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, Lines 106 – 120:

The open space among the four of them held

A two-wheeled chariot, the triumphal sort.

It came along, drawn by the neck of a griffin.

This one held aloft one wing and the other

Between the center [color] stripe and the three [on one side] and three [on the other],

In such a way that he did no harm by breaking them up.

His wings rose higher than could be seen.

His bodily parts that were birdlike were gold

And the others were white mixed with vermilion.

Not only did Rome not welcome Africanus

Or Augustus with so gorgeous a chariot,

But even the sun’s chariot would be poor beside it—

You know, the sun’s chariot that strayed and was burned up

Because of the prayers of the devout earth,

When Jove was uncharacteristically just.