Our pilgrim, Dante arrives on the seventh terrace of Mount Purgatory, a landscape full of flames. He, Virgil, and Statius must thread their way on a narrow path between the burning flames and the drop into the abyss off the side of the mountain . . . about as Dante the poet has to negotiate his relationship with Beatrice, the object of his own (lustful?) desire.
Read MoreStatius concludes his discourse on embryology by finally answering the pilgrim Dante’s question about how souls can take on material attributes in the afterlife . . . and by gently refining both Virgil’s unsatisfactory answers earlier in this canto and by gently correcting Virgil’s discussions of the souls in the afterlife in THE AENEID.
Read MoreStatius continues his discussion of human embryology, following the fetus through its various developmental stages until it finally forms a brain, the seat of rationality. At that point, the prime mover turns toward it and breathes a new spirit into it . . . to make it self-reflexive.
Read MoreDante asks his question about how immaterial shades can take on material properties. Virgil tries to give two answers, neither satisfactory. So he turns the lecture over to the redeemed Statius, who launches into a discussion of human digestion. Food is purified into blood, which then coagulates into a fetus.
Read MoreVirgil attempts to answer the pilgrim Dante’s question about how immaterial shades can take on material attributes (like growing thin on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory). Virgil tries two answers but ultimately has to give up and turn the discussion over to Statius as they ascend to the seventh terrace.
Read MoreAs the pilgrim Dante, Virgil, and Statius begin to make their very fast ascent to the final terrace of Mount Purgatory, the pilgrim has a burning question about, yes, the cadaverous gluttons on the previous terrace but really about what’s been happening since almost the opening of COMEDY: How do unbodied shades experience physical sensations?
Read MoreA read-through of PURGATORIO, Cantos XXV - XXVII, the final terrace of Mount Purgatory where the lustful do their penance in the flames. We find out more about Dante’s poetics, we hear a part of COMEDY actually in medieval Provencal, and we discover the great change in our pilgrim’s character after he walks out of the fire.
Read More