Dante, Purgatorio
Dante's Living Shadow
Seeing a shadow only before himself, Dante fears Virgil has left him. The guide explains that the body in which he once cast a shadow lies elsewhere and his present form does not block the light. Another company notices the broken sunlight beside Dante and hesitates. Virgil explicitly tells them that the traveller has a human body and comes with aid from heaven.
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In the sources
The encounter
LiterarySeeing a shadow only before himself, Dante fears Virgil has left him. The guide explains that the body in which he once cast a shadow lies elsewhere and his present form does not block the light.
Further detail
LiteraryAnother company notices the broken sunlight beside Dante and hesitates. Virgil explicitly tells them that the traveller has a human body and comes with aid from heaven.
Context & interpretation
This entry follows the supplied Thompson & Thomas edition of H. F. Cary’s translation. It describes Dante’s literary vision, distinguishing its assignments and reported claims from historical biography, other classical traditions and independently established accounts of an afterlife.
Original passages
Source 1
Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante
Only before myself the ground obscured. •Open this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Purgatory and Paradise, Cary translation; active reader leaf 19
Passage read in the exact edition’s extracted canto text; whitespace-normalised anchor and original-leaf mapping checked. Associated plates separately inspected.
- Edition
- IMJ-0119-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0119-E001-P0019
- Original scan leaf
- 20
- Recorded leaf number
- 20
- Current Reader position
- 16
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Purgatory and Paradise: The Vision of Dante
This is a human body which ye see. That the sun's light is broken on the grouno. Marvel not : but believe, that not without VirtueOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Purgatory and Paradise, Cary translation; active reader leaf 24
Passage read in the exact edition’s extracted canto text; whitespace-normalised anchor and original-leaf mapping checked. Associated plates separately inspected.
- Edition
- IMJ-0119-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0119-E001-P0024
- Original scan leaf
- 25
- Recorded leaf number
- 25
- Current Reader position
- 21
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed