Commentary Inf XXIII 145-148

Virgil, angered (as well he might be), strides away, followed by the protagonist. Frankel (Fran.1984.1), pp. 85-89, connects the anger Virgil feels now to the simile that opens the next canto. She also observes (pp. 96-97) that the passage picks up an earlier apostrophe of Virgil by his pupil: see [Inf XI 91], 'O sol che sani ogni vista turbata' (O sun that heals all troubled sight). Now we perceive that Virgil is himself turbato. We reflect that it is Dante who has contrived this whole elaborate scene to the discomfiture of Virgil, but who now, as character in the poem, follows humbly and caringly in his dear leader's footsteps. Hollander (Holl.1984.4), pp. 115-17, has suggested that this last verse is modelled on the concluding verses of Statius's Thebaid (XII.816-817): ' ...nec tu divinam Aeneida tempta, / sed longe sequere et vestigia semper adora' (do not attempt to rival the divine Aeneid, but follow at a distance, always worshiping its footsteps). With this gesture Statius tries to reassure his reader (and perhaps himself) that he feels no envy toward Virgil's greatness; Dante's gesture has a different task to perform, to reassure himself (and his reader) that, for all that the poet has put Virgil through in these cantos of barratry, he nonetheless reveres his great pagan guide.