PURGATORIO, Episode 151. Expecting Those Ladies Of Consolation: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, Lines 34 - 51

Awakened from his dream by a foul odor, Dante the pilgrim finds himself fully out of tune with his surroundings: a bright new day on the mountain of Purgatory, beautiful sunshine at his back, and an angel whose feathers fan him on to the next terrace.

He's even promised the curious "ladies of consolation" as a salve for his mourning.

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

[01:45] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 34 - 51. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please scroll down this page.

[02:59] The Bodleian manuscript's illustration of Dante's second dream in PURGATORIO.

[04:23] Dante's disorientation and his possible guilt.

[07:14] Virgil and Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane.

[09:29] Disorientation in the passage: hope and despair.

[11:28] More disorientation: an angel and the poet Dante in the tercet.

[13:06] A return to the familiarity of the plot.

[14:14] Four answers to the question of "who mourns?"

[21:42] Those curious ladies of consolation.

[26:12] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 34 - 51.

And here’s my English translation of Purgatorio, Canto XIX, Lines 34 – 51

I was rolling my eyes around when my good master said, “At least three

Times I called out to you. Get up and get moving!

Let’s find the opening through which you will enter.”

I stood up. All the circles of that holy mountain

Were already filled with daylight.

We went along with this new sun at our backs.

As I followed him, I held my forehead

Like someone who’s bent over with heavy thoughts,

So much so that a guy’s like the half arch of a bridge.

That’s when I heard: “Come on: here’s the passageway.”

It was spoken in a soft and kindly way,

The sort one doesn’t hear in the mortal realm.

With open wings that seemed like those of a swan,

The one who had spoken indicated the way up

Between the two walls of hard granite.

He moved his feathers and fanned us,

Affirming Qui lugent to be beati, because those souls

Will get ladies of consolation.