PURGATORIO, Episode 190. Forese Donati's Parting Apocalypse: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, Lines 76 - 99

We've come to the end of the long conversation between Forese Donati and Dante (as well as others) on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory among the penance of the gluttons.

Dante the pilgrim hedges the question of when he will die, then Forese leaps into an apocalyptic vision of the ruin of someone closely connected to Florence--that is, his own brother, Corso Donati.

We’ll work through this apocalyptic prophecy about Corso's ruin, fit it into its historical context, and finally are left with the pilgrim, Virgil, and Statius on the terrace, all caught in a host of military images.

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

[01:29] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 76 - 99. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please scroll down this page.

[03:43] A couple of problems with what the pilgrim Dante could know and the beginning of the military images in the passage.

[08:53] Forese Donati's apocalyptic prophecy of the very near future.

[13:28] The story of Corso Donati, Forese's brother and a key leader of the Black Guelphs in Florence.

[19:25] The military imagery for Forese's triumph (which reminds us of Brunetto's exit in INFERNO XV), as well as that imagery for Virgil and Statius, standing near the pilgrim on the terrace.

[23:56] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 76 - 99.