PURGATORIO, Episode 174. Virgil, The Damned Christian Missionary: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, Lines 55 - 74

Given that Statius claims a passage from The Aeneid made him see the error of his ways, Virgil wants to know how this poet of the Thebes could have ever become a Christian, particularly since his poetry shows little evidence of the faith.

Statius replies with some of the most shocking lines in COMEDY: He became a Christian AND a poet because of the damned, pagan Virgil. Virgil's own poetry led Statius to his profession and his confession.

To put it another way, Statius was redeemed, not by divine light, but a small human candle.

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

[01:53] My English translation of the text: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, lines 55 - 75. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment to start a conversation, please scroll down this page.

[04:39] Virgil's questions about Thebes, history, and faith.

[15:02] Virgil's inspiration toward both poetry and God.

[19:07] Statius' misquoting from Virgil's ECLOGUES.

[27:31] Poetry and conversion founded in inspiration from a text.

[30:01] Statius and Christianity in COMEDY.

[32:00] Rereading the text: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, lines 55 - 75.

And here’s my English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, Lines 55 – 75

The singer of the rural ballads said,

“Now when you sang about that cruel war

Over the twofold sadness of Jocasta—

“Given that Clio helps you there—

It doesn’t seem as if faith (without which good deeds

Are not enough) had yet made you faithful.

“If that’s the truth, what sun or what candles

Drove away your darkness so that you set up

Your sails to the rear of the fishermen?”

And [Statius] said to [Virgil]: “You first invited me

Toward Parnassus to drink within its grottoes.

You first lit my way to God.

“When you said, ‘The age renews itself.

Justice returns as well as the first of human history.

And a new child comes down from heaven,’

“You acted like someone who goes along at night,

Carrying the light behind him without helping himself,

Rather teaching such for the persons who come afterwards.

“I was a poet because of you; I was a Christian because of you.

But so you can better see what I’ve outlined,

I’ll stretch out my hand to color it. . . .”