PURGATORIO, Episode 6. Virgil Out Of His Depths--Or Maybe Out Of Dante's: PURGATORIO, Canto I, Lines 49 - 84

In our slow walk across Dante’s masterwork, we have come to one of the strangest moments so far in COMEDY: the moment we recognize the lone old man is in fact the Roman pagan Stoic suicide Cato. This moment breaks COMEDY in so many ways that we're going to spend two episodes of the podcast looking at this passage from PURGATORIO.

In this episode, we're going to focus on Virgil and (to a lesser extent) Dante in the passage (thereby saving Cato and his wife Marcia for the next episode). What does Virgil’s answer to the lone old man tell us about Virgil’s own place in PURGATORIO? Is Virgil’s character changing? What is Dante the poet up to?

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

[00:58] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto I, Lines 49 - 84. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please scroll down this page.

[05:06] Virgil in Purgatory: still a strange idea, although we may (or may not) have been set up for it.

[08:55] The structure of PURGATORIO, Canto I: mostly a conversation between two father figures, Virgil and Cato. But Virgil's presence still causes lots of problems.

[12:17] Making Dante the pilgrim show obeisance: a mistake or a change in the dynamics in the poem?

[17:28] What is Virgil doing when he apparently paraphrases Dante the pilgrim to Cato?

[20:13] Dante's folly is like Pier delle Vigne's and Ulysses'--except Dante's folly happened before COMEDY, not in COMEDY.

[22:28] Humor in the passage, but maybe mean-spirited and at Virgil's expense.

[24:58] Freedom: the guiding principle of PURGATORIO (until we get to Beatrice).

[27:14] The law--that is, how Virgil and Dante got here.

[29:08] Flattery: Does it get the job done?

And here is my English translation of Purgatorio, Canto I, Lines 49 – 84

At that point, my master [Virgil] reached out for me.

With words, with his hands, even with gestures,

He made me show obeisance with my knee and my brow.

Then he answered the old man: “I didn’t come under my own steam.

A lady descended from heaven. Because of her prayers,

I gave this man my company as his aid.

“But if you want a more complete explanation

Of our condition, such as it really is,

I’m certainly not the one to deny what you wish.

“This man hasn’t seen his last sunset,

Although his folly brought him pretty close to it—

So close that there was very little time left for him to turn back.

“As I said, I was given a mandate to go

To his aid. There was literally no other way,

Except this one that I’ve pressed him onto.

“I’ve shown him all the enraged peoples

And now I intend to show him those spirits

Who are purified under your jurisdiction.

“How I brought him here? That would take a long time to tell.

A great power from way up above has come down to help me

Lead him to the spot where he can see and hear you.

“May it please you now to hail his arrival.

He goes in search of freedom, which is so very precious,

As he who has given up his life for it well knows.

“You know what I’m talking about because freedom didn’t make

Your death so bitter back in Utica, where you left

The garment that will shine on that glorious last day.

“We haven’t broken any of the eternal edicts,

For he is alive and Minos doesn’t bind me.

You see, I’m from that circle where your Marcia,

“With pure eyes, prays that you,

O sacred breast, still hold her as your own.

Because of her love for you, I pray your favor.

“Let us go on through your seven realms.

I’ll report back word of you to her,

If you permit yourself to be mentioned way down there below.”