PURGATORIO, Episode 103. Sapía, Part One--The Pilgrim Gets More (And Less!) Than He Bargained For: PURGATORIO, Canto XIII, Lines 94 - 111

Dante the pilgrim worked up the courage (or flattery) to get one of the envious to speak up on the second terrace of Purgatory proper. She does . . . and gives him both more and exactly what (or perhaps a bit less) than he asked for.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I work our first sight of one of the most intricate souls in COMEDY: Sapía. She's more than Dante bargained for.

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

[01:18] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIII, lines 94 - 111. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please scroll down this page.

[03:02] The penitent envious soul schools Dante the pilgrim by reassessing their relationship, both by family and by politics.

[05:53] Pilgrims choose to be other, to be strangers in a foreign land.

[09:19] Dante the poet focuses on the naturalistic details in an otherwise hyper-moral passage.

[11:35] Dante the pilgrim is apparently not teachable at the moment . . . . except he does understand the work of the will in Purgatory.

[14:30] The penitent soul identifies herself reticently . . . only by name and city.

[19:38] Her reticence is found in a generous canto full of explanations.

[20:55] One generosity: Sapía offers a succinct definition of envy.

[24:49] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIII, lines 94 - 111.

And here’s my English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XIII, Lines 94 – 111

“O my brother, each one of us is a citizen

Of the one true city, but you wanted to ask

Which of us lived in Italy as a pilgrim.”

I seemed to hear this reply

As if from a spot bit ahead of where I’d come to a stop,

So I made myself felt by them as I moved ahead.

Among the others, I saw a shade who looked to be

Waiting for something. Much as the blind do,

It was already raising its chin to hear, as if someone were about to say “What’s up?”

I said, “Spirit, you who domesticate yourself in order to go higher up,

If you’re the one who made that response to me,

Make yourself known by your hometown and your name.”

“I was Sienese,” she said, “And with these others

I now mend my wicked life,

Weeping to the one who can grant himself to us.

“I wasn’t wise, although I was called Sapía.

I felt joy at the bad fortune of others,

More so than I did at my own good fortune.”