Placing And Misplacing Your Classical Ancestors: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, Lines 94 - 114
At the end of their first conversation, Virgil and Statius reconstruct limbo. They transform it into a neighborhood where all the lost, classical writers live.They also transfer limbo's sighs from the...
25 Mai 202529min
Statius, The Closeted Christian: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, Lines 76 - 93
Statius finally tells Virgil what we all want to know: the story of his conversion. How did this Latin poet who dedicated his great epic to a Roman emperor become a Christian.Through a long process an...
21 Mai 202527min
Virgil, The Damned Christian Missionary: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, Lines 55 - 74
Given that Statius claims a passage from The Aeneid made him see the error of his ways, Virgil wants to know how this poet of the Thebes could have ever become a Christian, particularly since his poet...
18 Mai 202534min
An Interpolated Episode: Dante and Irony
Since we’ve come to a moment of (perhaps!) profound irony as Statius misquotes and even misinterprets Virgil’s AENEID to find his way to salvation, we should perhaps pause and talk a bit about irony, ...
14 Mai 202521min
The Path To God Is Lined With Misquoted, Misinterpreted Texts: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, Lines 25 - 54
Statius and Virgil continue their conversation as they climb to the sixth terrace with the pilgrim Dante.Statius explains that he discovered his error when he read two lines from Virgil's AENEID. The ...
11 Mai 202539min
Virgil Offers Up The First Of Many Misread Texts: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, Lines 1 - 24
Blinded by the angel, Dante the pilgrim begins his climb to the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory. But his plight is overshadowed by Virgil’s desire to know more about Statius . . . in this strange pas...
7 Mai 202531min
A Read-Through Of PURGATORIO, Cantos XXII - XXIV
We have been a long time on the terrace of the avaricious (without knowing there's another sin punished there as well). We're ready to climb on up to the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory with Virgil a...
4 Mai 202528min
Caught Between Two Poets: PURGATORIO, Canto XXI, Lines 103 - 136
Statius has sung his (first!) hymn of praise to Virgil without knowing that the old poet is right in front of him. Dante the pilgrim is caught between them in this most human episode with his master, ...
30 Apr 202533min
