{"title":"Allegory and Autobiography","authors":"John Freccero","doi":"10.1017/CCOL0521844304.010","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Among the last words spoken by Jesus in the Gospel of John are those directed to Peter, predicting the disciple's martyrdom: Verily, verily, I say unto you that when you were young you girt yourself and walked wherever you wished; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and another shall gird you and lead you where you would not go. (John 21:18) In his commentary, St. Augustine explains that these verses mark the passage in Peter's life from youthful self-reliance to humility, from the sin of presumption to confession and contrition. In middle age (for Peter is neither young nor old), he is called upon to demonstrate his love by caring for the Lord's sheep and by being willing to accept crucifixion. The conversion from presumption to humility is also the theme of Dante's descent into Hell, which likewise takes place in middle age: “nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita.” The landscape of the prologue scene borrows several details from book 7 of Augustine's Confessions , where philosophical presumption is distinguished from confession: “it is one thing, from a wooded mountain top, to see the land of peace and quite another to reach it, when one's way is beset by the lion and the dragon.” It is likely that casting off the rope girdle halfway through the Inferno signifies a surrender of self-reliance analogous to Peter's, while the rush with which the pilgrim is girt at the beginning of the Purgatorio is a traditional emblem of humility (“umile pianta”.","PeriodicalId":226006,"journal":{"name":"In Dante's Wake","volume":"64 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2007-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"3","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"In Dante's Wake","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521844304.010","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 3
Abstract
Among the last words spoken by Jesus in the Gospel of John are those directed to Peter, predicting the disciple's martyrdom: Verily, verily, I say unto you that when you were young you girt yourself and walked wherever you wished; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and another shall gird you and lead you where you would not go. (John 21:18) In his commentary, St. Augustine explains that these verses mark the passage in Peter's life from youthful self-reliance to humility, from the sin of presumption to confession and contrition. In middle age (for Peter is neither young nor old), he is called upon to demonstrate his love by caring for the Lord's sheep and by being willing to accept crucifixion. The conversion from presumption to humility is also the theme of Dante's descent into Hell, which likewise takes place in middle age: “nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita.” The landscape of the prologue scene borrows several details from book 7 of Augustine's Confessions , where philosophical presumption is distinguished from confession: “it is one thing, from a wooded mountain top, to see the land of peace and quite another to reach it, when one's way is beset by the lion and the dragon.” It is likely that casting off the rope girdle halfway through the Inferno signifies a surrender of self-reliance analogous to Peter's, while the rush with which the pilgrim is girt at the beginning of the Purgatorio is a traditional emblem of humility (“umile pianta”.
在约翰福音中,耶稣说的最后几句话中,有几句是对彼得说的,预言了门徒的殉道:“我实实在在地告诉你,你年轻的时候束上腰带,想去哪里就去哪里;但你年老的时候,必伸出手来,别人必给你束上带子,领你到你所不愿去的地方。(约翰福音21:18)在他的注释中,圣奥古斯丁解释说,这些经文标志着彼得从年轻时的自立到谦卑,从自以为是的罪到忏悔和悔悟。在中年(因为彼得既不年轻也不年老),他被要求通过照顾主的羊和愿意接受钉十字架来证明他的爱。从傲慢到谦卑的转变也是但丁堕入地狱的主题,这同样发生在中年:“nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita”。序言的场景借用了奥古斯丁的《忏悔录》第七卷中的一些细节,其中哲学的假设与忏悔录是不同的:“从树木繁茂的山顶上看到和平的土地是一回事,当一个人的道路被狮子和龙包围时,到达和平的土地是另一回事。”在《地狱篇》的中途脱下绳带很可能意味着放弃了与彼得类似的自力更生,而在《炼狱篇》的开头,朝圣者的匆忙是谦卑的传统象征(umile pianta)。