PURGATORIO, Episode 27. Virgil, The Flattering, Witty Sage: PURGATORIO, Canto III, Lines 67 - 78

In this episode from Purgatorio, Canto III, we might not see Virgil in his best light. He appears to frighten some souls on the bottom ledge. Then he overplays his hand with flattery. And he ends with a truly bizarre aphorism.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at some of the interpretive problems in this passage, then turn to think about how characters are built in medieval literature and how they are built in modern literature. The differences may help us get our heads around how strange Virgil's character is becoming in PURGATORIO.

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

[01:50] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto III, lines 67 - 78. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or even leave a comment about this episode, just scroll down this page.

[03:01] Why do the penitent souls hesitate, seemingly in fear, though perhaps just in doubt?

[06:52] Virgil sets in with some (possibly overstated) flattery.

[08:31] Virgil ends his flattery with a banal and almost incomprehensible aphorism.

[12:02] Modern vs. medieval characters: the question of the necessity of a backstory.

[15:20] Modern vs. medieval characters: the rhythms of ambient personality texture.

[18:28] Modern vs. medieval characters: the importance of causality.

[19:37] Medieval characters are built with allegorical intent.

[22:44] Medieval characters are built through established "topoi" (that is, plot tropes, usually with a moral intent).

[26:47] Rereading the entire sequence: PURGATORIO, Canto III, lines 46 - 78.

And here’s my English translation of Purgatorio, Canto III, Lines 67 – 78

Even after we’d gone a thousand paces,

These people were still a long ways off,

As far away as a skilled arm could have hurled a stone.

That’s when they all pressed themselves tight against the hard wall

Of the steep cliff. They stood still and clumped together,

As people halt to watch out when they’re in doubt.

“O well finished spirits, o those already among the elect,”

Virgil began, “for the sake of that peace

For which I believe you all are waiting,

“Tell us where the mountain slopes

So that it’s possible to go up it.

For lost time irritates most the ones who know the most.”