PURGATORIO, Episode 138. Love Escapes Virgil: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, Lines 127 - 139

We come to the end of Virgil's (first) discourse on love, as well as the end of the central canto of PURGATORIO.

But it's a strange end since Virgil admits to what he doesn't know. Having been so certain about how human behavior operates, he concludes by telling Dante the pilgrim he's on his own to find out further answers.

Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:41] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 127 - 139. If you'd like to read along or continue the discussion with me, please scroll down this page.

[03:31] A secondary motivation for human behavior: quiet (or peace).

[07:22] A pronoun ambiguity in the passage.

[09:23] The temporary nature of the cornices of Purgatory.

[11:14] Virgil and the core ambiguity in PURGATORIO.

[12:29] The problem of too much love.

[13:55] Love and the things Virgil cannot know.

[16:29] Rereading all of Virgil's discourse on love: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, lines 91 - 139.

And here’s my English translation of Purgatorio, Canto XVII, Lines 127 – 139

[Virgil continues,] “Out of confusion, each one [of these penitents] gets the drift of a good

That might quiet his or her spirit, and so desires this very good

And works super hard to get it.

“If slow love draws you on to see it

And acquire it, this cornice

Martyrs you for that [problem] after a just repentance.

“There are other types of good that don’t make you happy.

In fact, they’re not happiness, nor are they even the good fragrance [of happiness],

[Much less] the fruit and root of all that’s good.

“This sort of love, the type that lets itself go too far

In these [directions], is lamented in the three circles above us.

As to how these things exist in threefold divisions,

I can’t say—you’ve got to find that out for yourself.”