PURGATORIO, Episode 64. The Generosity That Ends The Cantos Of Ante-Purgatory: PURGATORIO, Canto VIII, Lines 109 - 139

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We've reached the end of PURGATORIO, Canto VIII, which means we've reached the end of Ante-Purgatory, those cantos and those parts of the mountain before the main gate of Purgatory proper.

Here, Dante changes the tone completely, ending our stay outside of Purgatory proper in praise of generosity--or specifically, the generosity of the Malaspina family.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we head for the main gate of Purgatory on a high note. Some people do indeed do well and live right in this world.

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

[01:50] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto VIII, lines 109 - 139. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment to continue our conversation, please scroll down this page.

[04:05] This shade doesn't seem at all interested in the angels or the serpent. Why?

[05:18] Currado's opening speech is incredibly florid. But what is the lantern leading Dante up the mountain?

[08:33] The powerful Malaspina family ruled tracts of Lunigiana.

[11:29] Dante the pilgrim doesn't know what Dante the poet knows all too well.

[13:45] Dante was a peace negotiator for the Malaspina family in 1306.

[18:21] Currado's reply to Dante's praise is a prophecy of Dante's exile--and the care he will need in exile.

[20:54] The beautiful structure of PURGATORIO, Canto VIII.

[23:25] Ante-Purgatory ends on an ethic of care.

[26:31] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto VIII, lines 109 - 139.

And here’s my English translation of Purgatorio, Canto VIII, Lines 109 – 139

The shade who had gotten closer to the judge

When called hadn’t for a moment taken his eyes

Off of me during that battle.

“May the lantern that leads you from up top

Find all the needed wax in your judgment

To raise you to its enameled heights,”

He began. “If you’ve come with true news

Of the Val di Magra or its surrounding regions,

Tell me about it, for I was once a great man there.

“I was called Currado Malaspina—

Not the old guy, but the one descended from him.

I carried the love that is purified here to my own kind.”

“Oh,” I said to him, “I’ve never set foot

In that part of the world. But is there anywhere

In all of Europe where it’s not distinguished?

“The fame that brings your house honor

Sounds out among its lords and its region.

Even those who haven’t been there know about it.

“And so that I may go on up above, I give you my word

That your people do not bring dishonor

To the glory of their riches or their swords.

“Even if a wicked leader should pervert the world,

Your people will continue on the straight path

And turn away from the bad road because of both custom and nature.”

And he [replied]: “Get this: The sun won’t lie down

Seven times in its zodiacal bed

That is straddled by the four legs of the Ram,

“Before events will pound this courteous opinion

Into your head with nails much stronger

Than the ones you, or even other men, have used,

If the course of events is delayed no longer.”