PURGATORIO, Episode 210. Of Fraud, Flames, And Love: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, Lines 19 - 48

Our pilgrim stands on the brink of the flames. Virgil has to use every rhetorical trick in his bag to get Dante to move . . . and the only thing that works in Beatrice.

In so doing, our poet Dante attempts his first run at defining this desire that is driving him up into the heavens. But he does so in a most curious way: by bringing up Geryon, the monster of fraud.

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The segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:26] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, lines 19 - 48. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment so we can continue the conversation, scroll down this page.

[04:07] Virgil's tight rhetorical argument for getting in the flames.

[11:35] The beast of fraud and the problem of credence.

[15:47] The final push: Beatrice.

[18:12] Dante's first attempt to solve the problem of desire in his theological context.

[23:19] Our pilgrim, infantilized--and ready for the flames with an apple.

[26:02] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, lines 19 - 48.

My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, Lines 19 – 48:

My good escorts then turned to me

And Virgil said to me, “My son,

Here torments are possible, but not death.

“Let yourself remember it, let yourself remember it! And if I

Brought you to safety on the likes of Geryon,

What would I do when we’re closer to God?

“Believe for certain that if you stayed inside the belly

Of this flame for well over a thousand years,

It wouldn’t make you bald by even one hair.

“If you perhaps believe that I’m duping you,

Get up against it and prompt your credence

With your hands and your garment’s hem.

“From now on, from every fear from now on,

Turn in here and come: enter boldly!”

Meanwhile, I stood stock still against my conscience.

When he saw that I stayed put, firm and obdurate,

He said, a little irritated, “Now look, son,

This wall is between you and Beatrice.”

As at the name of Thisbe, Pyramus raised his eyelids,

Even at the point of death, and looked at her,

Right as the mulberry turned red,

So my stubbornness was made supple.

I turned to my wise guide, hearing the name

That always overflows in my mind.

At this, he shook his head and said, “Okay!

Are we sticking around here?” Then he smiled

As one does to a child who has been conquered with an apple.

He then immersed himself in the fire in front of me,

Asking Statius to bring up the rear,

Although Statius had long taken the road between us.