As Dante the pilgrim gets ready to leave the third terrace of Purgatory, the terrace of the angry, he has three ecstatic visions that warn about the dangers of excessive wrath.

Join me as we look at these visions and try to come to terms with the problem that Dante's rage may sit at the very center of COMEDY.

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

[01:11] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 19 - 39. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please scroll down this page.

[03:13] Connecting this passage with the previous hymn to the imagination.

[07:37] A review of the first three ecstatic visions in Canto XV at the entrance to the terrace of anger.

[09:46] The first vision (from Ovid's METAMORPHOSES): a (garbled?) reduction of the Philomela, Procne, and Tereus story.

[16:31] The second vision (from the Bible): Ahasuerus, Esther, Mordecai, and Haman.

[20:37] The third vision (from THE AENEID: Queen Amata and her daughter, Lavinia.

[25:00] Dante's rage as the center of COMEDY.

[29:24] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 19 - 39.

Here’s my English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, Lines 19 – 39

A tracing became apparent in my imagination.

It was about the impious deed of the woman who was morphed

Into the bird that so delights in song.

 

My mind was so constrained by this image

So trapped in itself, that it could garner nothing

From what was offered outside itself.

 

Then rained down into my high fancy

One who was crucified, with only scorn and aggression

In his face. That’s how he died.

 

Around him were the great Ahasuerus,

His wife Esther, and the just Mordecai,

Who was beyond reproach in what he did and said.

 

And as this image burst

Almost spontaneously, like a bubble does when it escapes

The water that made it,

 

A young girl arose in my vision.

She wailed forcefully and said, “O Queen,

Why have you have you negated your existence in your anger?

 

“You killed yourself so you wouldn’t lose Lavinia.

Now you’ve lost me! I am the one who laments

Your death, Mother, more than the ruin of any other.”