PURGATORIO, Episode 111. Oh, For The Glory Days (That Maybe Never Were): PURGATORIO, Canto XIV, Lines 97 - 126

Guido del Duca continues his diatribe about the descent of his culture, finally ending with a long passage bemoaning the end of the glory days, the fine families and courts of Romagna, now long gone. Here’s the big question: Is this Dante the poet’s lament or is his a function of Guido del Duca’s character?

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PURGATORIO, Episode 105. Sapía, Part Three: Rhetorical Games Reveal Both The Penitent And The Pilgrim: PURGATORIO, Canto XIII, Lines 133 - 154

Dante the pilgrim (and even Dante the poet!) may have met his match with Sapia on Purgatory’s second terrace, the ledge of the envious. She manipulates him into a confessional moment, then either turns that confession into flattery or comedy, all to get what she wants: a refurbished reputation back among the living. She’s caught in the human dilemma: neither good nor bad but a wild mix in-between.

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