Commentary Purg IX 85 |
The warder's words of challenge, 'Dite costinci' (Say it from there) repeat, as many note, the challenge of one of the centaurs to the approach of Virgil and Dante ([Inf XII 63]) and, like that one, probably reflect Charon's similar words (fare age... iam istinc [tell me... right where you are]) to the invading Aeneas in Aeneid. VI.389, as Daniello (DDP Daniello.Purg.IX.85-87) was perhaps the first to note.