Amata's Wrath: Dante's Reading of the Battle for Latium. (2nd January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mussio, Thomas E.
• Is Part Of: Italian studies. Volume 71:Number 1(2016:Mar.)
• Page Start: 21
• Page End: 38
• Publication Date: 2016-01-02
• Subjects: Amata -- Purgatorio XVII -- Henry VII -- wrath -- Florence -- Aeneid; Italian literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Italy -- Intellectual life -- Periodicals; Italy -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; 945
• DOI: 10.1080/00751634.2015.1132603
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0075-1634

Abstract

Abstract : This essay holds that Dante's particular interpretation of Virgil's Amata in Purgatorio XVII as an example of wrath is consistent with his treatment of this Virgilian character in his Epistle VII. Despite the pathetic quality of Lavinia's words in the Purgatorio episode, a close analysis of Dante's verses in relation to Virgil's text, particularly the second half of the Aeneid, reveals that he condemns Amata's actions as harshly in the Purgatorio passage as in his epistle to Henry VII, where he compares Florence's brazen effrontery with regard to the emperor to Amata's open hostility to authority and divine signs. Dante's reading of Amata is highly determined by his conviction regarding the importance of human agency, and he dismisses any suggestion in Virgil's text about Amata's victimization regarding her actions by stressing the evidence in the Aeneid of her active and willful resistance to authority.