PURGATORIO, Episode 245. Games Of Interpretation In Eden: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 28 - 48

The griffin rolls his chariot up to the foot of a denuded tree as Beatrice descends out of her ride. The symbolism (the allegories, in fact) become increasingly murky, difficult to parse, especially when the griffin says his one and only line in COMEDY.

Dante's Garden of Eden is a place where the games of interpretation kick into high gear. Nothing is what it seems . . . yet what it is is a matter of much debate. Let’s work through this increasingly complex passage on our way to the final apocalyptic vision of PURGATORIO.

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The segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:04] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 28 - 48. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, scroll down this page.

[03:04] Statius, both physically and thematically in the passage.

[05:55] Adam and Eve, with notes toward the theological fall of mankind.

[09:19] The stripped tree in the Garden of Eden . . . but which tree?

[14:49] The griffin, becoming a more difficult allegory with his one and only line in COMEDY.

[21:06] Beatrice and her (complex) descent from the chariot/cart.

[25:57] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, lines 28 - 48.

My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 28 – 48:

The beautiful lady, who dragged me through the crossing,

As well as Statius and I, followed the wheel

That made a revolution with a smaller arc.

Even while taking a stroll through the exalted wood—

Emptied through the culpability of she who believed the serpent—

Our steps were cushioned by the angelic notes.

Perhaps an arrow let go three times

Would span the space over which we moved

When Beatrice descended.

I heard everybody murmur “Adam.”

Then they surrounded a tree that had been stripped

Of all its leaves and anything on its branches.

The tree’s head, spreading out more the more it went up,

Would have been admired for its height

By the Indians in their blessed woods.

“Blessed are you, griffin, who doesn’t tear apart

This tree with your beak, even though it’s sweet to taste,

Because your guts would be badly knotted by it.”

The others cried out in like manner

Around the massive tree. And the bifurcated animal [said]:

“So the seed of every sort of justice is preserved.”