PURGATORIO, Episode 252. Beatrice And Her Cryptic "Five Hundred Ten And Five": PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 25 - 45

As Beatrice and Dante continue to walk through Eden, she begins the final discourse that will end PURGATORIO: a cryptic, apocalyptic vision of the world (or maybe just the church?) set right. But by whom? Or when? And is the church destroyed? Or is it going to be rehabilitated?

Beatrice's vision is the capstone of PURGATORIO and prepares us for the elliptical and stylized poetry to come in PARADISO, just ahead of us. It's a test to see whether we can make it. Don't worry: We will!

Seven hundred years of commentary hasn't come to any agreement on these lines. Why should we?

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The segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:43] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 25 - 45. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me by a comment, please scroll down this page.

[04:18] A reminder: the rigid and highly stylized manner code in the Middle Ages.

[08:46] Beatrice's redefinition of the terms: wakefulness rather than walking, the chariot as a vessel, the dragon as a serpent (from Eden?), and the chariot's possible, full destruction.

[14:18] A translation problem: the possible sop of bread. And difficult interpretations: God's vendetta and a future heir.

[18:30] Seven hundred years of commentary on the tough problem of "five hundred ten and five--God's messenger."

[27:42] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, lines 25 - 45.

My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 25 – 45:

As with those who are too respectful

When talking in front of their betters and so don’t

Give their voices a life beyond their teeth,

So it was with me. Even without my full voice,

I began, “My lady, you’re familiar with what

I need as well as what is good for it.”

And she [said] to me, “I would now have you

Unwind yourself from fear and shame,

So that you don’t any longer speak like a guy who dreams.

“Know that the vessel the serpent broke

Was and is not. But let the one at fault believe

That God’s vendetta doesn’t fear a sop [of bread].

“The eagle who left his feathers on the chariot

Won’t be without heirs forever,

Even if [that chariot] became a monster and then was taken as booty.

“For I see clearly and therefore narrate

That there are already nearby stars, so secure from postponement and all barriers

That [these stars] will give us a time

“When five hundred, ten, and five—

God’s messenger—will kill the thieving woman

And the giant who behaves badly with her.