PURGATORIO, Episode 171. Virgil Offers The First Of Many Classical Misreadings: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, Lines 1 - 24

Blinded by the angel, Dante the pilgrim begins his climb to the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory. But his plight is overshadowed by Virgil’s desire to know more about Statius . . . in this strange passage of misquotings and misreadings.

The angel cuts short a beatitude from the gospels. Virgil seems to misquote Francesca from INFERNO, Canto V. And Virgil himself seems to toss out Aristotle’s Golden Mean to get what he wants from Statius.

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

[01:59] My English translation of the medieval Florentine. If you'd like to read along or add a comment to continue the discussion with me, please scroll down this page.

[04:02] My opening remarks on PURGATORIO, Canto XXII.

[06:57] The climb and the truncated beatitude.

[12:23] Action off-stage . . . because of haste or because of blindness?

[15:47] Virgil's quotation (or misquotation) of Francesca from INFERNO, Canto V.

[20:55] Virgil's tragedy and Dante's hope.

[25:43] The question on all of our minds (with a passing reference to Aristotle's Ethics).

[29:29] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, lines 1 - 24.

And here’s my English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, Lines 1 – 24

Already, the angel had stayed behind us,

Having turned us toward the sixth circle,

Having erased one slice from my face,

And having called those who have the desire

For justice beati, voicing only

To the word sitiunt without needing any others.

I now went along more lightly

Than I had at other openings, so that without much labor

I followed the quicker spirits on up.

That’s when Virgil began: “Love,

Lit by moral strength, always lights up another,

As long as the flame is noticeable.

“Therefore, from the hour when Juvenal came down

To hell’s limbo to be with us

And made your affection [for me] known,

“My fond regard back at you was of the sort

That nobody has ever felt for someone he hasn’t even seen.

Because of that, this current stairway now feels too short for my taste!

“But tell me—and pardon me if as a friend

I cut to the chase and let the reins go slack,

And if as a friend you chat with me now—

“How could avarice find space

In your chest, given all the wisdom

That you fostered there with so much care?”