PURGATORIO, Episode 35. When The Going Gets Tough, Some People Just Sit Down: PURGATORIO, Canto IV, Lines 97 -114

After all that scholastic reasoning, all that discussion of medieval astronomy and geography, all that cogitation on the soul's unity and the sun's position, Dante the pilgrim and Virgil come across a guy who's just hanging out in the shade, trying to escape the noontime heat.

He may be the most famous character of PURGATORIO. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we begin our exploration of this negligent soul, a character who has captured the imagination of thousands of the COMEDY's readers.

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

[01:38] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto IV, lines 97 - 114. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or continue the discussion with me about this passage, please scroll down this page.

[03:47] The guy's first response has two curious bits: an emphasis on the "perhaps" and an address only to Dante the pilgrim, not to Virgil.

[06:26] How does this passage relate to Virgil's last words: "I can't say anything else but I do know this much is true"?

[09:37] The figure embodies negligence, perhaps what some medieval scholars called "inactive melancholy" or the "noontime demon."

[11:20] Dante the poet is playing a tricky game since the sin of sloth was not punished in INFERNO (perhaps).

[15:32] The negligent soul seems to offer both the pilgrim Dante AND the reader a way out: what's ahead is tough, so be forewarned before you go on.

And here’s my English translation of Purgatorio, Canto IV, Lines 97 – 114

As soon as [Virgil] had uttered these words,

A voice quite close at hand said, “Maybe

You’ll feel the need to sit down before that.”

At the sound of this, we both turned around

And saw a huge rock to our left

That neither I nor he [Virgil] had noticed at first.

We walked over to it and some people were there.

Hanging around in the shade behind the boulder,

Like a guy who has settled for a bit of sheer negligence.

One of them, who seemed to me very worn out,

Was sitting with his arms wrapped around his knees,

Pressing his face down between them.

“O my sweet lord,” I said, “check out

That one who looks lazy enough

That sloth itself might as well be his baby sister.”

Then he [that guy] turned his attention to us,

Barely shifting his face up along his thigh,

And said, “Fine—go on up, if you’re so tough.”