PURGATORIO, Episode 176. Placing And Misplacing Your Classical Ancestors: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, Lines 94 - 114

Virgil and Statius reconstruct limbo. The sighs from that first circle of hell are transferred from the damned to the poet Dante (and to his reader). And the entire catalogue of the lost comes down to a final irony: Manto, lost in Dante’s own poem, misplaced and reassigned, a final misreading and misquotation in a canto full of them.

Mark ScarbroughMay 25, 2025Purgatorio XXII, Purgatorio, Purgatory, Statius, Virgil, Limbo, The climb, ubi suntComment

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?

Mark ScarbroughJune 26, 2024Purgatorio XIV, Purgatorio, Purgatory, The terrace of envy, Envy, ubi suntComment