PURGATORIO, Episode 250. Apocalypse Even In Eden, Part Two: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 109 - 160

In the last episode, we talked through some of the "superficial" factors in the grand apocalyptic vision in Eden: its structure, some diction cues, even a few rifts or cracks in its flow.

In this episode, let's turn to the much thornier issue of what it all means. A consensus has developed over the seven hundred years of commentary. That reading (or interpretation) now dominates the Anglo-American, rationalist outlooks on the vision.

But might there be more? And might that reading be prone to mistakes or gaffes it cannot accommodate?

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The segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:38] Once again, my English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, lines 109 - 160. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, scroll down this page.

[05:28] The now-standard interpretation of the vision as a sweet of Christian church history up until Dante's day and the so-called "Avignon captivity" of the papacy.

[13:10] Questions and problems that arise in the standard interpretation. These may show us that the vision is more layered than a rationalist interpretation would consider.

[16:28] Two external sources that may impinge on this vision: the prophecy of Daniel 7:7 and the visionary writings of the Radical Franciscans.

[19:27] My reading of the vision as the collapse of good governance following the departure of the proper balance of church and state.

[21:47] Two final questions: 1) Does Dante cause the collapse of the vision? And 2) should the vision be interpreted in such a rational, one-for-one way?

My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 109 – 160

Never has fire nosedived from such a thick cloud

[And] with so much speed—as if from the borderline

That moves at the greatest distance from us—

As I saw Jove’s bird fall, punching

Through the tree, ripping off its bark,

Not to speak about its blossoms and new leaves.

It hit the chariot with all its strength,

Making it churn like a ship in a hurricane,

Conquered by waves, now to the starboard, now to the port side.

Then I saw a vixen hurl itself

Into the cradle of the triumphal vehicle.

[That vixen] seemed to lack any nourishment for its own well-being.

But pushing back against its ugly guilt,

My lady spun it around and into the sort of flight

That its fleshless bones could handle.

Then I saw the eagle come down

From where it came the first time, right into the ark

Of the chariot, leaving it [now] as feathered as the bird itself.

And as comes from a grieving heart, such a voice

Issued forth from heaven and said,

“O my little ship, what bad freight you have!”

Then it seemed to me that the ground opened up

Between the two wheels. And I saw a dragon issue forth

And plunge its tail up into the chariot.

Like a wasp pulling out its sting,

Retracting its evil tail toward itself,

It dragged off some of the base and wandered away aimlessly aimlessly.

Like living earth covered with weeds, what remained

Of the [eagle’s] feathers (offered

Perhaps with clean and inoffensive intentions)

Covered [the chariot] completely, so that

One and the other wheel were covered, as well as the pole,

In less time than a sigh holds a mouth open.

Transformed in this way, the holy construction

Put out heads along its parts,

Three along the pole and one at each corner.

The first [three] were horned like oxen.

But the four others had a single horn on their foreheads.

A monster like this has never yet been seen.

Confident, like a fortress on a high mountain,

An unkempt whore appeared before me.

She sat up there, peering all around under her brow.

As if to prevent her from being taken away,

I saw a giant standing next to her.

They kissed each other at every turn.

But because she turned her greedy and wandering eye

On me, that feral lover

Beat her from head to feet.

Then full of suspicion and brutish anger,

He untied the monstrosity and dragged it all the way

Into the wood to make that place a shield against me

So that I couldn’t see the whore or this new beast.